Ian Clennon of Catadupa, St. James with his dwarf Jew plum tree. -Contributed photoNEW FRUIT tree crop initiative supported by the Ridge to Reef Watershed (R2RW) Project is proving that "dwarf" trees can yield big results for both agriculturalists and for the environment. The project, which involves the planting of dwarf Jew plum ('June plum') trees as well as other regular orchard varieties, is working in the Catadupa area of St. James and at the Knockalva Agricultural School in Hanover.
The dwarf varieties do not grow high, but they do grow quickly. In November 2001, a total of 10 individual farmers in Catadupa, St. James, used minimum tillage to plant their hillside plots with dwarf Jew plums and soursop. Minimum tillage is a land husbandry technique that limits the amount of vegetation farmers remove when preparing their land, so it helps to ensure that the hillside remains stable. The trees started bearing fruit after only six months and as they grow their roots will continue to help stabilise the soil.
At Knockalva, mixed orchard production is being pursued to maximise the utilisation of land and to make the school more financially independent. The decline in the dairy industry had a devastating impact on the school's income as they had more than 20 hectares of pasture under dairy cattle production. An alternative was desperately needed to ensure that the school could continue to serve as an agricultural training institution, not only for its own students, but also for the farmers in the surrounding areas. So far, a demonstration plot of dwarf Jew plum trees has been established on the school grounds, but over next four years, the R2RW project intends to expand its production to include dwarf cashew and other regular common fruit trees such as oranges, grapefruit, lime, tangerine, breadfruit, coconut, naseberry, mango, soursop, guava, avocado, and jackfruit.
An integrated, long-term view has been adopted and it is expected that the Knockalva project will be self-sustaining by the end of its fifth year. The fruit tree production will also provide a base for an agro-processing component that the school wants to develop. If all the trees are established and maintained, after 10 years, the net returns to be generated are expected to be more than $32 million.
Orchard production is a good example of the type of "win-win" initiatives promoted by the project because it helps to enhance local livelihoods while protecting natural resources. R2RW is a five-year joint initiative of the Government of Jamaica through its National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Government of the United States through its Agency for International Development (USAID) and is works in the Great River and Rio Grande watersheds of Jamaica.
