Saint Thomas's MORANT BAY — Pauletta Welsh has warned of the emotional toll the floods has taken on farmers, leaving them cropless, depressed, and unprepared for the typically profitable Christmas season. The majority of her crops perished during the recent rains.
Welsh concurs with forecasts that product prices will soar, but he also believes that the seasoned farmer from Albion Heights will not have any harvests to sell.
"It's not for the weak to farm. It's incredibly depressing to have all of your hard work erased," Welsh told the Jamaica Observer.
"When they think of how they have used up all their resources, effort and time and now have nothing to reap, it is very hard for some farmers," she stated.
Welsh farmers grow tiny crops including cabbage, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and spicy peppers; these crops are especially susceptible to floods. She clarified that root rot was brought on by the wet soil.
"A lot actually relies on what stage the crops are at. The majority of my crops perished since they were at the fruiting stage, Welsh explained.
When visiting Morant Bay Market on Tuesday, farmers gave similar accounts. A number of them reported losing scallions, tomatoes, sorrel, sweet peppers, and spicy peppers.
"The wind and rain batter me; I become flooded out. Me lost some tomato and some young corn, ya man, dem wash weh," said Spring Garden resident Noel Brown.
Jefferson Wray, a resident of Needham Pen, reported losing comparable crops.
"Everything that I had—tomato, sweet pepper, spicy pepper, and scallion—was gone. The flood swept everything away since I didn't have a decent drainage system in place," he said.
Despite his setbacks, Ricaldo Rashford from the Thornton district stated he is making an effort to maintain a good outlook.
"My banana and a bunch of sorrel went into the drain. Many of the items were swept away and coated with mud. All of the pepper and tomatoes? All of them are gone as the water is extremely hazardous and just passes through the crops. However, we simply have to accept it as a loss," Rashford thought.
In the meanwhile, the loss of several of her piglets has devastated Middleton-based livestock breeder Iesha Reid, a young woman.
"I just acquired about seventeen piglets, of which three and their mother were lost. It was difficult for her because it was getting near to Christmas and there were a lot of individuals trying to buy piglets to raise or butcher for meat," she said.
Some of the piglets strayed after a portion of her pig cage was washed away by raging waves caused by the intense rain.
Reid is still grateful for all she still has, despite the losses she has experienced.
Like her, a lot of farmers are already considering how they might recuperate and rebuild in order to gain, even if only somewhat, from the anticipated Christmas business.
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