For long, St Elizabeth has been recognised as the breadbasket parish of Jamaica, contributing in excess of 20 per cent of Jamaica's food stock. The township is also home to Fitzroy Honeyghan, one of the parish's successful farmers.

Honeyghan, like most farmers in the parish, was introduced to the sector at a young age. Since that time, the need to be self-reliant has helped the 31-year-old farmer, who began at 17, remain viable as a producer of red peas on less than a square metre of land.

"My mother used to plant a lot of peas and I used to pick up the grains and plant, earning my own money," he explained. Revenue from this venture was encouraging; hence, it was no surprise that he would later ignore carpentry training for agriculture.

Community markets

Fast-forward 15 years and Honeyghan is now cultivating a holding of some 60 acres with thyme, scallion and various vegetables. He also rears poultry and cattle. These are supplied to community markets, vendors and well-known supermarket chains in Kingston, St Elizabeth and other parishes.

Getting to this point was not always an easy task for the entrepreneur. He points out that financing to expand his business was an issue at first, but, through perseverance and patience, he was able to pull through.

"I have been able to get to this point," he recalled, "through savings, a $70,000 loan from the now-defunct Workers Bank and other loans from the Bank of Nova Scotia."

Agricultural sector

While Honeyghan has no formal training in the agricultural sector, as is customary for farmers within the Southfield area, he has become very knowledgeable through his mother who was an avid farmer, other farmers in the community, as well as visits from Rural Agricul-tural Development Authority extension officers operating in the community.

Though Honeyghan's 15 employees have a tough time dealing with the many acres of crops and livestock on a daily basis, their boss has been able to brag about not having a praedial larceny problem. This, he attributes to the fact that most of the young people in his community are gainfully employed.

"We do not have many idlers in our area, everybody tries to be independent," he said.

Heavy winds and rains associated with Tropical Storm Gustav also pelted Honeyghan's farm, leaving some 10,000 severely damaged seedlings together with dead birds in its wake. Though saddened by the loss of planting material, poultry and potential revenue, he quickly picked up the pieces, replanted the material and replenished the stock.