“Is God alone and the tank we can depend on. We don’t have anything else,” a bemused Linetth Whitely told the Jamaica Observer, standing amid her sweet pepper plants on her farm in Corby, St Elizabeth.

Whitely, who is fondly called Claire, plants sweet peppers, yams, tomatoes, and other produce on a section of the 14-acre plot she oversees for her family. Like many other farmers in the area Whitely is worried that there will not be much to reap in the face of water shortage she is facing.

“I just spent over $86,000 buying seeds, just pepper seeds. The peppers are over there now,” she explained, pointing at a patch of small green stems.

“I have to pay a gentleman to help me pump water from a tank, because [in] this area, we don’t have running water, none whatsoever,” added an obviously worried Whitely.

“We need running water, we need running water. We would love that, but to me right now, I don’t really see that on the radar,” added Whitely.

“[There’s] no rain at all, but this system now, it helps,” she explained, displaying the system that is currently keeping her plants alive — two black tanks and several lengths of black piping stretched between the lines of peppers to water them daily.

Water is not a new problem for farmers in St Elizabeth. It issue has been well documented for decades.

As the Observer drove through the southern parish, some brown husks had taken the place of what should be golden ears of corn while in many areas where the fields were lush and green, black water tanks were observed, necessary to tide farmers over between spells of rain.

Another farmer, in Potsdam, which borders Corby, also pointed to the lack of water in the area. The farmer, who asked that his name be withheld, said while there was domestic water service in the community it is extremely unreliable.

“It is as if there is none because it is so infrequent. I had it years ago, and I cut it off because I wasn’t getting any and they were sending bills, so the infrastructure is there, but the water is not in the system,” charged the farmer.

He further pointed out that the infrastructure for the domestic water supply was only on main roads and not in the interior sections of the community.

Regarding water for irrigation, the farmer said he had turned away from purchasing the commodity and invested in a catchment system to serve his farm. But that is now running low.

“The time is hot, and there is greater evaporation of moisture from the soil, so I would say yes [we are experiencing drought conditions].”

Representatives of the National Irrigation Commission (NIC), which provides irrigation services to the agricultural sector, confirmed its lines do not run in the Potsdam-Corby area but added that under the planned Pedro Plains Irrigation Project that would be addressed.

In the meantime, minister of state in the Ministry of Agriculture, Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth South Eastern Franklin Witter, encouraged farmers to contact the constituency office when they face a shortage of water as a system is in place to help them.

“We provide water to them every day. Any farmer who needs trucking of water, all they need to do is call and we truck water to them,” said Witter.

He told the Observer that water for the farmers is provided through the NIC and Rural Agricultural Development Agency but the demand is sometimes greater than the supply.

“Sometimes, they might have to buy because of the demand [or] how severe the drought is, but we assist them,” argued Witter.

The long-serving MP indicated that work on the planned Pedro Plains Irrigation Project, which will benefit the area, will begin next month.

“We start with the pipes next month… starting from Pedro Plains right through to Top Hill. It will extend through Southfield, Munro [Potsdam], into Top Hill,” said Witter.

The Pedro Plains Irrigation Project has a two-year completion date.