Holland, St Elizabeth — Farmer Andrew Morris ploughed a section of his leased 10-acre plot at Holland Estate, adjacent to the famous Holland Bamboo Avenue, “six to eight” months ago hoping to plant pumpkins and sweet potatoes.

He hasn’t planted yet. That’s because of marauding cattle that are making the lives of farmers a living hell at the 2,400-acre estate which was turned over to lease holders three years ago after rum company J Wray & Nephew Ltd ceased sugar cane operations there.

Award-winning farmer 27 year-old Kateisha Allen told the Jamaica Observer that she felt the brunt of cattle damage when she planted three acres of sweet potatoes at Holland in 2020.

“The cows destroyed everything… I got nothing,” she lamented.

She has now fenced her property but the problem remains because “the cows still going in … the persons that own the cows cut the fence and let them in to feed”. Hungry cows were also breaking down the wire fencing to feed on her crops, said Allen, a native of Holland Village, who has gained acclaim for winning the Prime Minister’s youth award for agriculture and agro-processing.

Allen’s distressing story was backed up by Morris and other farmers.

“I have seen where persons cut wire fencing on people’s plot and even the perimeter fencing..,” Morris, who heads a benevolent society which loosely represents farmers at Holland, told the Sunday Observer. “They also open the gate (to farm land) and not close it back. … It has been a real challenge an uphill task for all of us,” he said.

Farmers say most of the cows are owned by people in surrounding communities, though there are also reports of some animals coming from further afield. Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Western, in which the Holland Estate falls, JC Hutchinson told the Sunday Observer of “rumours” that cattle had been taken by truck to graze at Holland. “I don’t know if it’s true but that’s what I have heard,” the MP, who is also a state minister in the Transport and Mining Ministry, said.

Such horror stories came aplenty as new Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Pearnel Charles Jr alongside Hutchinson and officials of the agriculture ministry and related agencies toured Holland recently.

Charles saw cattle roaming about and was told of other problems, including periodic flooding of the property which lies at low altitude on the fringe of the Lower Black River Morass. The property has a high water table and is bound on either side by two streams, the Black River and the YS River. Both streams merge before entering the sea, miles away at St Elizabeth’s capital, Black River.

Despite the abundance of water, lack of irrigation linkages also pose a problem for famers in some sections of the property, during periods of drought. “When it wet, it very wet but when it dry, it very dry,” explained Morris.

Poor access roads to the sprawling property is also a major challenge.

At a post-tour meeting involving farmers, Government technocrats and Mohan Jagnarine, a private investor and agro-processor, Charles instructed Permanent Secretary Dermon Spence and other executives within the Ministry and related agencies, to speedily consult with farmers and come up with solutions. An initial meeting was set for last Friday.

Agro-Investment Corporation (AIC), an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, currently has direct control of the Holland property.

Charles suggested that the cattle could be quickly removed once there was the will to do so. He appeared to suggest that issues such as flooding and irrigation would require more effort and expense. He called for a plan that would involve workable solutions as well as costing.

“What I want is a full compilation of what are the solutions and what are the costs,” Charles said, during the meeting at the Holland Primary School. “I would like to be able to look over there (at the Holland property) in the next two, three years and say we got it right,” the minister added.

He told farmers that having toured the estate, he was “not happy because I am looking at acres and acres of land instead of looking at reaping about to happen”. But, the minister argued, “every problem is an opportunity waiting” and much could be achieved if the farmers were prepared to work with him and his ministry.

Charles said management of the estate must improve to extract full potential as part of an effort to significantly reduce Jamaica’s multi-billion dollar food import bill and assure food security.

Cattle “nyaming down” farmers’ crops apart, the minister pointed to other evidence of waste and inefficiency. He cited as an example, expensive pumping of water from flooded sections of the estate with apparently no clear plan for use of excess water.

“What we call waste another country is utilising,” he said.

Farmers told the Sunday Observer that for them, the most immediate, and pressing challenge, is uncontrolled cattle. The problem is not new. Announcing its decision to abandon centuries-old sugar cane operations at Holland in 2018, J Wray & Nephew, while citing heavy losses, high operational costs and depressed sugar prices, also fingered damage caused by out-of-control cattle. The rum company, which is owned by the Italian alcoholic spirits giant Campari Group had also described periodic flooding as a big problem.

Farmers say the cattle problem has got worse since the exit of Appleton. Indeed, according to Morris, there may have been as many as 2,000 cows roving Holland Estate at one point last year.

“I know that figure sounds unbelievable… but there are a lot of cows,” Morris said in response to an incredulous exclamation from this reporter.

Hutchinson noted that two-three years ago a now defunct local management group, Holland Producers Limited, was able to reduce an estimated “more than 400 head of wild cows” on the estate to “just 10” using various means, including herding into fenced pastures.

But, said Hutchinson, after Holland Producers Ltd was dissolved in 2020 and AIC took control, the cattle problem has mushroomed to a point, not seen previously.

As minister without portfolio in the then Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hutchinson, in 2018, had first articulated his dream of a complex of small farms at Holland estate with built-in marketing and value-added arrangements which he described as an agro-economic zone.

The demise of Holland Producers Ltd – which had a mandate to sublease lands to farmers and collect money for security, utilities, removal of stray animals and fencing of the property — followed allegations of mismanagement. Hutchinson was accused of cronysim and nepotism. Back then, the controversy led to Prime Minister Andrew Holness removing Hutchinson from the industry, commerce, agriculture and fisheries ministry.

At the time, Holness ordered that the “Holland Estate lands should be immediately turned over” to AIC “without prejudice to the small farmers who would have entered into occupancy arrangements in good faith”.

However, locals currently appear to agree that the quality of management of the 2,400 acre State-owned Holland lands has declined substantially, with roaming cows being the most immediate, though not the only problem.

Two years ago, 184 farmers were said to be producing a variety of crops including tubers and vegetables on several hundred acres. It’s not clear how many farmers are now active, but according to Morris, farmers are “packing up all the time, not because they are not interested but because they have invested and lost, with cows eating their crops”.

Hope that an animal pound, contracted to the St Elizabeth Muncipal Corporation, and established in Myersville at the south eastern end of St Elizabeth late last year, will make a big difference has not yet borne fruit. However, according to Hutchinson and farmers, news of the pound may have influenced some cow owners to remove their animals.

“The cows are not as many as before … but we know the owners are waiting and watching to see what happens,” Morris said.

During the recent tour, cows seemed to be everywhere on the estate, some tied, but many walking around un-tethered.

Owner/manager of the animal pound Rupert Mitchell told the Sunday Observer recently that he had received permission from the Holland Estate management to begin removing cows and, he said, appropriate arrangements were being made.

However, Mayor of Black River, Derrick Sangster, told the Sunday Observer last week that a meeting with Mitchell had revealed some “trucking” problems. “We met with him (recently) to discuss his mode of operation and how best he can sort out his problems … we will be watching to see how he goes in the next month or so,” said Sangster.

For Charles, the tour of Holland Estate wasn’t just about the many problems. He suggested it also showed “the way forward” for agriculture. He was clearly enthused by a stop, midway the estate, at a food processing facility in the making, Holland Bamboo Ltd, an operation managed by Jagnarine, co-founder of the agro-processing company, Spur Tree Spices.

The facility, converted from a previous warehouse, is now in the final stages of overhaul and equipage and according to Jagnarine will be formally opened within weeks. It will utilise farm produce from Holland Estate, wider St Elizabeth and beyond.

After inspecting the processing house, Charles cited it as an indicator of the future for Jamaican agriculture “with proper coordination between our farmers and agro processors, investors, Government and other stakeholders”.

He spoke of integration between farmers using modern techniques to maximise production and a “value added, value chain” for local and export markets while minimising waste of farm products, once seen as “something to be discarded”.

Reminded during a discussion with journalists that for “decades”, Jamaicans have heard talk from their leaders about proper integration and modernisation of agricultural processes, with very little to show, Charles insisted that he intended to make a difference. Further, he said, scientific planning and strategising would be at the heart of his approach.

“What we are doing differently now, is doing it,” said an assertive Charles. “I dont know what was happening decades ago… but on this tour what you are seeing is not just people coming to (speak) but we are showing: You see the equipment (at the evolving food processing plant), you see the investment, you see the investors, you see the minister, you see the farmers, you see the crops being planted. What we are doing different is action; and action has to be linked to strategy,” he said.

Citing the example of Jamaica’s thriving tourist industry, Charles visualised a brand new hotel requiring additional farm production to meet its needs.

Under his watch, he said, the approach will involve a calculation of how many hectares of land would have to be cultivated to meet the food needs of the imagined hotel, which crops would be produced, and where. It was along such lines that properties such as Holland Estates would be operated, he said.

“That’s the kind of scientific approach we will need to meet demand … it’s about time and money, action and strategy,” the Agriculture and Fisheries minister said.