George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Kingsley Palmer (right) and his father Clinton Palmer tending tomato plants on their farm in Pots Dam, St. Elizabeth. - GEORGE HENRY/FREELANCE REPORTER
MALVERN, St. Elizabeth:
KINGSLEY PALMER, now in his 40s, has been involved in farming from he was about 15 years old. His father, Clinton Palmer has been in the business for most of his life, hence his interest in agriculture from an early age.
"My father is a farmer, and he actually introduced me to farming. He was the person who gave me the first bag of fertiliser when I was going to school. I used that fertiliser to plant a crop of cucumber and from then it has been quite successful for me," Mr. Palmer told Farmers Weekly.
However, it was not all easy for him when he just started out as the task proved to be tedious and expensive. He said he had to spend huge sums of money on water, labour and inputs like fertiliser.
COST EFFECTIVE
Now, the days of having to pay men up to $1,000 per day to water plants individually with water cans are over for the St. Elizabeth farmer. Mr. Palmer has invested in a drip irrigation system, which, according to him, has proven to be cost effective. He said the new system has even improved crop yields and reduced labour and water usage on the farm located at Pots Dam. He currently grows tomato, cabbage, carrot, sweet potato and other crops.
"This system gives you a better idea of the amount of water each plant is getting. For example, when I put a thousand gallons of water in my tank, I know that I am giving 1.5 litres of water per plant per day, based on the amount of plants I have here. Whenever I employ someone to water the plants I do not know how much water each plant gets. So right now I can see how the plants are getting the water efficiently," explained Mr. Palmer.
He said before using the drip irrigation system, he saw other farmers use it, but was not aware of the results he could achieve from using it.
