George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Roger Edwards on his farm in Nain, St. Elizabeth. - GEORGE HENRY PHOTO
MALVERN, St. Elizabeth:
ROGER EDWARDS is a young farmer who cultivates crops in Nain, near the ALPART plant in St. Elizabeth. He has been tilling the soil for the past six years, planting crops like cucumber, cabbage, tomato, sweet pepper and thyme.
But farming was never Mr. Edwards' first love as he used to make furniture for a living. However, when this failed to bring him the financial independence he had been expecting after several years, he went into farming.
"I used to do furniture work, but since I started to do farming over six years ago, I stopped because more money is in the farming," he told Farmers Weekly. "Farming is a better turn over than furniture making," he continued.
At a time when some farmers are experiencing difficulty finding markets for their crops, for Mr. Edwards it is not an issue. "Farming for me has been very good. I am able to see my way out financially because I am able to find market for the crops," the farmer revealed.
The cost of inputs such as fertiliser and chemicals is not a problem for him either as he saves enough money from the sale of his crops to cover such expenditure. "The cost of inputs is not bad for me. I don't worry about it, because what I do is try to save money from my earnings, so that when things bad I have what is needed to purchase what I need," said Mr. Edwards.
WHEN IT RAINS
Any hint of a challenge comes whenever time it rains too heavily, especially for the cucumber crop that wilt and die when it gets too much water. There is no problem for him during the dry periods as he has an ample supply of water which he gets from ALPART.
The young farmer assured that he was in it for the long haul and is encouraging young persons to take the chance and reap the rich rewards. According to him, it is better for young people to get their hands dirty in the soil than to get them dirty while maiming the lives of others.
