By Cedric Johnson, Gleaner WriterSAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland:
A SEVERE DROUGHT has been scorching the earnings of several Westmoreland farmers, especially those cultivating vegetables.
"Very little planting is being done in the Grange Hill, Negril and Savanna-la-Mar agricultural districts," Fitzroy Calame, deputy parish manager of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Westmoreland, told Farmers Weekly last week.
LOST OF EARNINGS
Additionally, he said that many farmers have lost potential earnings as a result of the drought, while thousands of vegetable seedlings that are now due to be transplanted, had to remain in the plant nurseries because of inadequate rainfall over the last four months.
"The result is a heavy demand for vegetables such as scotch bonnet peppers, which have a strong overseas market," said the RADA deputy parish manager. "The exporters are down on us but we simply cannot supply the markets."
PRICE INCREASE
He said that given the demand for the crop, farmers are now being offered as much as $100 per pound for peppers an increase of $80 over the previous price.
Crops such as pumpkin, sweet potato and dasheen have also been affected by the drought.
But Mr. Calame suggests that the effects of the drought could be ameliorated by practising mulching techniques, as are adopted in the communities of Darliston and Bethel Town in Westmoreland.
