Small farmer Aswell Wright removes weeds from a sweet potato plot on his farm in Sanguinetti, Clarendon.

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

Spaldings, Clarendon:

Aswell Wright is 42 years old, but surprisingly he has been a farmer for 30 years.

"I have been in farming from the age of 12 because I did not have any father nor mother to support me, and so I had to start working to help myself from early," he recounted.

Various crops planted

Dressed in his typical work clothes and a cutlass in hand, Mr. Wright said he planted crops such as sweet and yellow yams, carrots, cucumbers and lettuce. He stated that he loves farming as it helps himto be independent by putting money in his pocket and food on the table.

He, however, balances this with earnings from the Farm Work Programme in Canada where he has been picking apples for the past six years.

The industrious farmer was quick to point out, though, that picking apples in Canada was much more difficult than planting yams here in Jamaica. He explained that climbing trees with a bag on his chest and having to bend or reach out on branches to pick the apples was not an easy task. He added that at times it is rather dangerous and if one is not careful, you could fall and hurt yourself.

"The apple picking is not easy. Sometimes, you do not even have time to eat because they want you to hurry up and finish the crop," the father of three children told Farmers Weekly. "When I am in Jamaica on the farm here, I feel much better," he added.

For now he intends to stay in farming, but he like many farmers, would like to be paid more money for the yams produced. Mr. Wright stated that yam is now selling for a cheap price of $20 per pound. He was adamant that $40 per pound was the least that farmers should be paid by exporters of the tuber given the high price of inputs such as fertiliser.