MORE than 2,000 feet up Jamaica’s Santa Cruz mountains, a cool climate nurtures crops common to temperate zones. In this environment, Trishawna Brown’s flower farm thrives but the blessing of the elevation also curses the location with maximum exposure to weather events.

Brown would come to terms with this double-edged sword when Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 3, 2024 in her district of Potsdam, St Elizabeth. Within hours, Category 4 winds had destroyed years of sweat, tears and dreams.

With one livelihood in ruin, Brown would soon plot how to give life to another, that of farming strawberries in tropical Jamaica.

However, in the immediate aftermath, her thoughts were on shelter, family and survival. Hurricane Beryl had wrecked her greenhouse packed with flowers and ornamental plants, which she sells to neighbours, flower shops and passers-by in Junction — a town 14 kilometres downhill.

“I lost a lot of plants and my house, the top and back, went. It set us back in income,” she recalled.

While both male and female farmers face similar challenges in the aftermath of crisis, for Brown, a single mother of two, there are key differences: “I don’t have any fatherly support, so it was hard to come back,” she explained.

And without income, she agonised about sending her children to school.

As a beneficiary of UNDP’s livelihoods recovery programme, Keisha Wint received 100 baby chicks, feed and materials to expand her chicken coop.

BIGGS…I raised 100 chickens and when the storm Beryl came, it take away my livelihood that I use to take care of my kids and to send them go to school and help myself

“It was depressing knowing you can’t find things for your children,” Brown said.

One-third of all farmers in Jamaica are women. And though they make significant contributions to farming output, they face heightened and unique vulnerabilities, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands said.

A key example of this is poultry farmers, it added.

Many are single females who were severely impacted by the hurricane, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green said last year. As the backbone of food independence for chicken and egg supplies, they sustained a hit to their primary source of income for household and back-to-school expenses, he disclosed.

Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers (JNRWP) Executive Director Tamisha Lee witnesses this gender differentiated impact all the time.

“Female farmers are disproportionately impacted by climate change as they have less access to financing, technology and land ownership,” she pointed out. “Their roles as caretakers also intensifies the burden during crisis, making recovery slower and more difficult.”

Recent research by the International Labour Organization (ILO) supports this observation: Although women like Brown account for 58 per cent of micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) leadership, a majority of institutions in Jamaica which provide financing and business development services to MSMEs do not consider the specific needs of women entrepreneurs.

Trishawna Brown, flower farmer and now strawberry farmer, at her house damaged by Hurricane Beryl. (Photos: UNDP)

Keisha Wint, a fearless single mother and poultry farmer who is blind, enters her chicken coop in her backyard in Manchester.

Instructed by the evidence, the UNDP, in collaboration with the JNRWP and the Bureau of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, shortlisted 54 women business owners, including farmers and persons with disabilities, for its livelihoods recovery support valuing $7.8 million.

Inputs, grants and training aligned to need were organised, targeting the most impacted south coast communities. Capacity-building training taught survivors how to build resilient operations and build back stronger after disaster, and how to enhance financial literacy, financial management, marketing and sales, the UNDP said.

Brown, one of the 54 women and the only flower farmer in the bunch, seized the opportunity to diversify her output. Years before, she had dreamed of farming strawberries. To feed her passion, she soaked up
YouTube teaching videos and tips from local experts. With UNDP support, she is now part of a growing strawberry farming group satisfying only 10 per cent of local consumption.

With a 90 per cent gap now filled by imports, the Government is targeting the sector for growth. Strawberries grow at no lower than 2,000 feet in tropical countries, and some 20 per cent or 220,000 hectares of Jamaica is at this elevation and higher. Potential income is lucrative at $3,000 per pound.

Working a patch of land 40 feet below her backyard, Brown finally started her strawberry farming journey.

To support her fledgling effort and the growth potential of strawberry farming in Jamaica, the UNDP project purchased climate-smart equipment: a 1,000-gallon drum, two acres of drip hose material to support drip irrigation, a venturi tube PH tester, and a nutrient meter.

“It has helped my farm because we are now in a drought season,” Brown said.

Now, she has begun to harvest strawberries and sell to eager markets.

“I just need to [harvest] more fruits to meet the market because the market is there. I started off with two fruits then I could pick, then from that I could pick a dozen, and from that I could pick a pound,” she said.

She has now picked many more pounds and intends to access technical support to improve her harvests.

Keisha Wint from Manchester is a fearless single mother and poultry farmer who is blind. Home is a modest yet vibrant blue house along a tranquil tree-lined road in Warwick District, nestled amidst flourishing farmlands. Her coop is in the backyard and she manages operations with help from her adult son — her main support in business.

At the beginning of her small business journey, family members tried to discourage her.

“They said, ‘You can’t manage’, but I’m a very determined person and I go for what I want. I don’t let my disability stop me from earning because I love my own money. I don’t like to depend on people,” she declared.

“Persons with disabilities face a lot of challenges,” she said. “There are times you ask for assistance, and they feel you can’t help yourself.”

It’s why she feels more can be done for women with disabilities.

“As a woman and person with a disability, especially as a single parent, trust me, it’s not easy and for me as a woman to earn and provide for me and my son — it’s challenging sometimes but I’m a person who perseveres; I don’t let anything stop me from doing what I’m doing,” said Wint.

Hurricane Beryl wiped out her chicken stock, setting her back financially. But the same can-do grit that caused her to start her poultry business saw her through to the recovery phase.

She received 100 baby chicks, feed and materials to expand her chicken coop through UNDP’s livelihoods recovery programme.

“The chickens now have more room to move about. This will help me to add more baby chicks so I can have more chickens to sell on the market,” Wint said.

Since then, she has sold off 100 per cent of her harvest to restaurants, grocery shops, cookshops, and householders, and reinvested a portion of profits into purchasing another 100 chickens. They are now six weeks old and soon to be slaughtered. Customers are already lined up.

“The profit is good because price gone up since Beryl, so it has been going good,” she confessed. “To be honest, it’s a big achievement because it has enabled me to take care of the medical bills and I am grateful for the opportunity.”

Another poultry farmer, Maya Biggs, lives in a slightly elevated area of Clarendon called Pleasant Valley. A shy and quiet mother of three boys, she lives with her partner in a modest wooden home perfectly situated to take in the breathtaking beauty of Bull Head Mountain. The trek to her house is stony and difficult, but the reward is a cool crisp air amid miles and miles of rolling hills.

On this site, she dreams of a better place for her family, and has already begun the work on a small plot of land downhill from the current house.

These plans were temporarily interrupted when Hurricane Beryl made landfall in the valley.

“I raised 100 chickens and when the storm Beryl came, it take away my livelihood that I use to take care of my kids and to send them go to school and help myself,” she said.

In the aftermath, only the stone foundation of the coop remained.

“My first thoughts were, ‘Wow, look at that.’ It impacted me but I didn’t take it to heart because you can always bounce back and do what you can do to improve and help the kids.”

Having made the livelihoods recovery shortlist, Biggs received a restock of baby chicks, an 800-gallon water tank for water harvesting, and eight feet of zinc and chicken mesh wire plus resources to support the rebuilding of her coop.

Biggs said the donation has now put her back on her feet as part of the poultry industry’s comeback.

“This has kind of pushed the business a little further,” she said.

Since then, she has sold all 30 chickens to neighbours and retail shops plus ‘round robins’ and ‘drink-ups’. She is on the verge of increasing output next time to 40 and intends to invest in her own refrigerator instead of borrowing.

“It has been a great experience; it sends the kids to school and puts food in the house,” she said.

Brown, Wint and Biggs’ stories of survival underscore the need for a gender inclusive and nuanced approach to disaster resilience. UNDP Resident Representative Dr Kishan Khoday said this became more evident on his visits to the three beneficiaries.

“Vulnerable persons can fall off the radar if we don’t make an extra effort to include them before, during and after a crisis strikes,” he declared.

But he said UNDP has proved that small-scale interventions can make a difference, especially when anchored on solid partnerships with government and non-governmental organisations in the field.

“As UNDP implements its current country programme, we will continue to invest in the kinds of interventions that build the resilience of our most vulnerable groups and to advocate for the resources and consideration that will ensure they are no longer left behind,” he promised.

Noting the disproportionate impact of climate change on women, UNDP gender analyst and gender focal point Abby Gale Clarke said limited financial opportunities, recovery barriers and caregiving responsibilities continue to present hindrances to resilience.

“Through this initiative, we aim to reduce these barriers, to promote inclusivity, equality and to ensure that we are leaving no one behind as we tackle the climate change challenges,” she said.

“The impact of the support has been vast. It has been huge,” declares Mitzie Moore Cooke of the Bureau of Gender Affairs. “What I’m seeing is empowered women — women who are resilient. The support has allowed them to come out of that depression and so now they are on the path of recovery, beaming with confidence and empowerment,” she said.

“I am feeling excited and elated because trust me, it’s helped a lot,” said Wint about the Beryl recovery gift. “I want to do more because I know the demand for chicken is very high, so I really want to expand the business some more within the next couple of years.”

Biggs said her resuscitated poultry business will help her to help others in the community.

“I’m feeling happy, well gifted and warmly. I can help myself and my kids as a farmer and can help other women farmers to move on to a next point in life,“ she said.

“I’ve never received a help like this before in my life,” said Brown with tears. “This is a privilege, and I am so grateful. It means a lot to me. There’s no word to describe this feeling. This is a big step, and this will help me to improve my life. From the bottom, top and side of my heart, I am very appreciative.”

She said she wants to create employment for at least two persons so that her turn of fortune also benefits her community. But, at the end of the day, it’s about her legacy.

“My dream is to provide for my children, and this is a future business for them as well. I don’t want when I die, I leave them with nothing,” she said.