Ranald Cowie on his farm in Castle Hill, St. Thomas. Cowie uses only organic materials to fertilise his pineapples.
-Marlene McPherson photo
Marlene McPherson, Gleaner Writer
LYSSONS, St. Thomas:
JUST OVER two years ago, Ranald Cowie, 62, of Castle Hill in St. Thomas was 'seduced' into farming when he sampled a piece of pineapple, and since then his love for the fruit has only multiplied.
"I went by Sunny Hill, got a piece of pine to eat and I noticed that the pine did not scratch (itch) me," he said.
Curious that the fruit did not cause any discomfort compared to some samples he had consumed on other occasions, Mr. Cowie enquired as to how it was grown and later learnt that the pineapple was fertilised exclusively with organic materials.
This influenced him to start cultivating pineapples using organic materials to fertilise them, also. "I bought 25 sugar loaf pine suckers, planted them and observed that they did well so I continued," said Mr. Cowie.
Mr. Cowie told Farmers Weekly that he uses the dung of rabbits and guinea pigs and the grass that falls from their pens to fertilise the pineapples twice per year and noted that since he began cultivating pineapples in 2001, production has improved.
Recently, a team of persons from overseas visited his 14-acre farm in Castle Hill and expressed an interest in contracting him to supply them with the product.
However, Mr. Cowie said there have been difficulties in identifying persons to work on his farm. "Workers are hard to get, they see farming as downgrading," said Mr. Cowie who currently employs two permanent and three part-time labourers on his farm.
FOUR VARIETIES
Farmers Weekly caught up with Caswell Glover,
Manager of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, St. Thomas who was on a visit to Mr. Cowie's farm. He said he was pleased with the quality of the four varieties of pineapples cultivated by the farmer, some of which weigh as many as 13 pounds.
Mr. Cowie also plants bananas, june plums, cocoa, papayas, sugar cane, sweet potatoes and plantains.
He is married with 4 children.
