Young farmer, Ethelred Campbell, drives a bamboo shaft in the ground to provide an anchor for sweet yam vines growing on his farm in Sanguinetti, Clarendon. - George Henry photo

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

Spaldings, Clarendon:

Ethelred Campbell has spent most of his life ploughing the lands high up in the hills of Sanguinetti, Clarendon.

While he has worked as a mason on a number of construction sites, there is no work that satisfies him more than farming, despite the many challenges faced.

The past student of Spaldings Secondary School (now Spaldings High) said cultivation is a family tradition, as his parents and grand-parents were themselves farmers.

"I grew up and saw my father doing farming. I used to go to the field where my father usually does his farming activities, and I used to steal out his yam heads and plant my own yams close by," the Clarendon farmer explained.

Produce

Mr. Campbell grows mostly sweet yam, with yellow yam, lettuce and cabbage in lesser quantities on about four acres of land. He said sweet yam fetches a higher price (up to $80 per pound) than other varities of yam.

"Sweet yam has a better market than yellow yam. It sells faster and it is not usually in great supply, and when buyers come to make purchases from us here in the field, sometimes they just take all you have one time," explained the farmer.

However, the high price of fertiliser is threatening to destroy his business. He complained that he has to pay $2,200 per bag for fertiliser. This, he contended, has forced him to scale down on the planting of crops.

Mr. Campbell is urging the Government to intervene and provide a cushion to assist farmers as the high price for fertiliser could result in a shortage of many crops.