George Henry, Gleaner Writer
Colin Wellington on his farm in Smithfield, St. Elizabeth. - PHOTO BY GEORGE HENRY
MALVERN, St. Elizabeth:
FOR ALMOST his entire working life, Colin Wellington has been tilling the soil while providing food for not only the members of his immediate family, but for members of his community in Smithfield, St. Elizabeth.
If you should ask him why he has been in the field for so long, he would tell you that farming is in his bones. It is not that he has not had his fair share of challenges in the sector, but his resilience is what keeps him going.
"I get a lot of beating from bad weather over the years. When the time is dry, I lose almost everything and worse yet, whenever the hurricane season comes, I lose all just the same," Mr. Wellington lamented. He said he has to sell his produce below market value sometimes, and even give away some when he cannot find a market.
The Smithfield farmer told Farmers Weekly that he has been enjoying farming from his younger days and he has no intention to quit anytime soon. He plans to continue as long as he can find the strength to do the work.
CROPS AND ANIMALS
On a small one-acre plot in the St. Elizabeth countryside, Mr. Wellington grows tomato, cucumber, yam, coco and potato. The veteran farmer also rears pigs and goats on his farm. The returns have not been much, but he is grateful that he could have sent his two children to school. They too are now involved in farming. His dream is to one day build his own home from the proceeds of his farm. Mr. Wellington said he supplemented his earnings from the farm with day's work on his colleagues' farms in the community.
With the hurricane season now in effect, the elderly farmer is hoping that his worst fears of his crops being destroyed will not be realised. He said the method of assessing damage to farmers' properties after natural disasters needed to be improved to fast-track the rendering of aid.
