Byron McDaniel, Gleaner WriterAPART FROM the annual Yam Festival and the occasional lynching of praedial larcenist, almost no news comes out of southern Trelawny.
The Gleaner ventured recently into the rugged yam producing area on two occasions within one week. On the first occasion, The news team travelled along a main road with challenging curves to Loye River where yam farmers loudly demonstrated against the low price of their produce.
"I plant 500 hills a yam and a mek only $30,000 and that caan wuk back the ground and it a dead out," said yam farmer Dennis Carter, who was among a group of about 30 demonstrators. He said the exporters were paying only $20 per pound which is below the cost of production.
Businessman Paul Patmore said the area was predominantly supportive of the Opposition party and did not enjoy the attention of the Government. Hence, there was no attempt by Government to assist the yam farmers.
The following week, The Gleaner team travelled to Albert Town along a main road which reminded one of the song '40 miles of bad road', manoeuvring between large potholes, past miles and miles of yam fields before finally dodging crater-like potholes to enter Albert Town.
Albert Town, one of the more developed towns in Trelawny, boasts a high school, two bakeries, three hardware stores, one supermarket, a credit union with money transfer facilities, three restaurants, a barber shop and hairdressers' parlour. Businesses like taxis and minibuses occupy a transport bay. The town appeared to be a self-sufficient enclave but very limited in opportunities for employment.
NO PIPED WATER
The leading businessman Kenneth Grant, who operates Tip Top Enterprise Hardware and Haberdashery stores in the town said, "We have been abandoned by the Government in these parts. There is no piped water, although the Government spent millions of dollars putting in pipes from Stetin to Albert Town."
Grant continued: "The nearest fire stations are at Falmouth and Christiana in the parish while the nearest police station is at Ulster Spring, three miles away."
He said another concern was that the Government was thinking to move Bellevue Hospital to Ulster Spring, a move which would be resisted by 'any method'.
Forty-year-old hxousewife Jacinth Johnson, decried the lack of skills
training centres in the community.
