George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Calbert Sinclair tends to crops on his farm. - PHOTO BY GEORGE HENRY
SPALDINGS, Clarendon:
CALBERT SINCLAIR is now 72 years old. He has been in farming from the age of 18 when he needed money to fund his schooling.
He told Farmers Weekly that he usually works in the fields for other persons before he started cultivating yams, banana, plantain, sugar cane, ginger, cabbage and other vegetables on a small plot of land on his own. Now his farm in Sanguinetti, Clarendon, is over three acres.
MOST DIFFICULT CROP
Of all the crops, Mr. Sinclair said he has encountered the most difficulty with ginger, which is being affected by a rhizome disease that causes the root to rot close to harvest. He and other ginger farmers in the area are calling on the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Ministry of Agriculture to investigate the cause of the disease and develop a remedy for it.
"Failure to carry out the research could result in a total wipe out of ginger in Clarendon, especially in the northern section of the parish," warned the farmer.
He stressed that the Government needed to do more for small farmers, especially during times of disasters when their crops are wiped out. Mr. Sinclair complained that he and his colleagues in his area had not received any assistance with recovering from Hurricane Ivan last September which did significant damage to crops.
Nonetheless, he said farming has not been too bad for him as he has been able to minimise the cost of inputs and labour on his farm. Mr. Sinclair said farming has been good to him and declared that he was in it for the long haul.
