THE town of Linden, commonly known as the mining town or the bauxite town, has had an ailing agriculture sector for several years which has resulted in approximately 70% of the food consumed there being imported from other regions.

With the decrease in bauxite production, regional authorities have been trying various techniques to rejuvenate the agricultural sector, but this has not reaped much success, and the town continues to be dependent on food coming from other regions.
It’s a situation that doesn’t sit well with Pearce Ifill, a Berbician who moved to Linden. Coming from an agricultural background, this young man was not accustomed to buying everything he eats and was not about to adapt to the dependency syndrome that Lindeners had webbed themselves into.
Ifill was on a mission to not only do subsistence farming, but to feed the entire Linden.
He knew he couldn’t satisfy the demand he alone, but at least he would have encouraged other Lindeners to follow his lead.

In 2005, Ifill enrolled in a Linden Advancement Economic Programme (LEAP) Agricultural Course where he garnered the requisite technical and marketing skills to not only farm, but to run a successful agricultural business as well.
He then proceeded to acquire land in West Watooka, which is the farming hub of Linden because of its fertile soil.
“Region 10 has one of the best soils in Guyana; West Watooka especially,” the young farmer said.
“It has excellent soil for any crop, because it is clay mixed with a bit of loam. You can do pine, you can do any cash-crop on it,” he added.

MAKING HIS NAME
Recognising that the competition with outside vendors was going to be stiff, Ifill decided to use an aggressive marketing strategy to sensitise Lindeners about what could be had right on their doorstep, so to speak. And at a cheaper cost, to boot!
“I created a name: ‘Fresh from the West’. And in the advertisement,” the business-savvy farmer said, “I let people know all that I have to offer.
“And at the end, I make it known that for every dollar you spend at ‘Fresh from the West’, you are creating jobs in West Watooka and Linden, giving persons the idea that if you spend your dollar with the trucks that come from persons in Berbice, you create jobs in Berbice so persons start getting the idea of ‘Fresh from the West’.”
Currently, ‘Fresh from the West’ has eight permanent staff, but contracts extras come harvest time.
“There are two farms, and we plant a wide variety of stuff,” Ifill said. “We plant mustard, bora, celery, tomatoes, cabbage, pakchoi, bolanger, parsley, thick-leaf calaloo, cucumbers, carilla and so much more.”
The planting, he said, is done in stages to facilitate the huge demand on the retail market. The seeds, for instance, are given to someone else to plant, while he collects the seedlings, which helps expedite the production rate.
HIGH IN DEMAND
Ifill, who now goes by the alias ‘Fresh’, swears he’s Linden’s most prominent farmer, who makes the sacrifice to meet his customers’ demand for fresh produce cultivated under agricultural best practices. With the positive response he’s received so far from Lindeners, and the quality of soil in West Watooka, Ifill believes that all it would take is 10 more like-minded persons to make Linden hum.
“Linden could feed itself, but the mindset of Linden has to be changed,” Ifill said, adding: “Farming is a business like any other business; it has to be managed. There are records to be kept, salaries to be paid; and there is marketing…
“So, if they would take it from a business perspective and not just when-you-do-it, how-you-do-it…

“You have to have a love for it; it has to be a part of you. I have a serious commitment to the farm; I love what I do.”
Sharing with the Guyana Chronicle his daily regimen, Ifill said:
“I get up at minutes to five, get my breakfast, and get ready.
“I reach on the farm at 5:45, harvest from 6:00 to 9:00, reach out on the market for 9:30.
“Remember, I am in managing, marketing and production. And remember, my time has to be shared in all three departments. “Around quarter to three, I would check off the stocks and return back to farm and work from 3:00 to 6:00. When I leave the farm, I go back to the market and balance off the workers.”
Though it may sound tedious to many, Ifill said he loves what he does, and therefore it never seems like work to him.

TEACH THEM YOUNG
Ifill believes that if farming is introduced at the nursery school level, and the children’s minds are chanelled in this direction, then it will be easier for them to navigate into agriculture rather than “try to bend the branch when it is hard”.
He believes that Lindeners should realise that the mining sector has lost its glory days, and agriculture is the next gateway to economic success.
The farmer posited that Lindeners should stop complaining that the government needs to do more for them, when they are not willing to do anything for themselves. “What are you doing for yourself?” he asked. All you do is go to work, go home, fold your hands, watch TV, go on the computer and complain, when you can farm, do a kitchen garden or rear some poultry.”
In addition to persons changing their mindset, he believes that the commercial banks and other financial institutions should be more farming-friendly, since farmers are in dire need of financial assistance, but find it difficult to access loans.
With a changed mindset, perfect soil, financial assistance and technical training, farmer Pearce Ifill believes that Linden will not only be called the mining town but the agricultural town, where every Lindener can be certain that they are eating what is produced right in their home town.
But until then, ‘Fresh from the West’ will continue to be a testimony of Linden’s agricultural potential.