George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Kenrick Morgan on his farm in Nain, St. Elizabeth, removing weeds from his thyme plot. - CONTRIBUTED
MALVERN, St. Elizabeth:
IT HAS been 10 years since Kenrick Morgan got involved in farming and he still loves it. Like many farmers today, Mr. Morgan's love for the earth and what it produces steered him into planting for a living.
Growing up in a farming community, he has been accustomed to seeing the people around him till the soil. Today, he grows a mixture of vegetables and ground provisions. These include carrot, thyme, cabbage, yam, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, sweet pepper and cucumber.
Mr. Morgan told Farmers Weekly that he has never done any work but ploughing the dirt to produce food for sale and for his home. Though difficult at times, especially during the dry season when water is scarce and the cost of labour and inputs are expensive, the 'St. Bess' farmer said he has been able to make a comfortable living from farming.
"Farming is very nice because you can get everything you want out of it," the proud farmer said. "It is also good that I work for myself and I don' t have anybody to push me around. I can come to work at anytime, do my work and then go home. It is an everyday thing for me. I work from Sunday to Sunday."
However, Mr. Morgan said he was disappointment that he has been unable to find a favourable market to sell the thyme he produces. He explained that he usually produce the crop for export, but that the market appears to have dried up in the last year due to stiff competition from South America.
Now he sells it to local buyers for between $70 and $100 per pound, significantly less than the price it fetches on the export market.
