Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Writer
Poultry farmers preparing chickens at the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre slaughterhouse project in White Horses, St Thomas. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
"THE IDEA that most young people have is that a farmer is merely a man with a fork and a stained shirt!" says St. Thomas farmer, Nkyrumah Green.
They couldn't be more mistaken.
Mr. Green is the livelihood officer of the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC), whose Kingston-based Livelihood Project assists small poultry farmers in St. Thomas. Ninety-five per cent of them are female.
Partnering with the Coalition for Community Participation and Governance (CCPG), the project began as a response to the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in the parish last September.
These farmers, their households' breadwinners, are important to the economy also. According to a recent survey by Henroy Scarlett, a food hygiene consultant, 30 per cent of the chickens Jamaicans consume
are from backyard poultry
producers.
Novellete Goulbourne, a farmer from the White Horses area, lost 150 chickens to Ivan. But today she is grateful to the WROC for helping her to rebound.
"They negotiated with RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) to come in, and they gave me financing to buy 100 chickens," said Mrs. Goulbourne.
WROC TO THE RESCUE
Before 'Ivan', WROC and CCPG had been working together in the parish on a water, sanitation and hygiene project called WASH. With sponsorship from the United Kingdom-based Christian Aid, they provided pit latrines and water supplies to Botany Bay, White Horses, Pamphret, Johnson Mountains and Trinityville residents.
But then came 'Ivan'.
"Although we (WROC) were not involved in agricultural production at that point, we could not ignore the plight of these people; and so we began restoring the farmers ... The ministries of Health and Agriculture were on the verge of shutting the small poultry farmers out of the poultry industry, for justified health reasons, originating from the lack of proper facilities. And this is where we (WROC) really got involved," said Mr. Green.
Expertise was forthcoming from local public health department and inter-agencies such as RADA, the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), the Jamaica Livestock Association; and business training from organisations, including the Jamaica Business Development Centre.
ADVICE FOR FARMERS
This advice, he said, has given farmers the knowledge to install irrigation systems, animal waste management, and their own slaughterhouses. The sessions encouraged farmers to join together in groups of 10 or more to take advantage of economies of scale.
"Assisting these farmers in St. Thomas in establishing their own slaughterhouses has literally spared their lives," added Mr. Green. "The farmers will become certified by the Bureau of Standards, and the Public Health Department has already sanctioned the locations of the erected slaughterhouses."
According to Conroy Goulbourne (no relation of Novlette), a farmer assisted by WROC, "Because we will be able to now dispose of animal waste safely, and stamp and label our chickens with the bureau's approval, we will be able to resume the business of supplying the restaurants and supermarkets in St. Thomas with chicken."
