By Indrawattie Natram

Wakenaam plantain farmers tell their stories

HAVING inherited the family tradition of farming from their parents, both Karam Chand and Deodat Ramratan from Wakenaam Islands, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) continue to carry on the tradition that earns them a livelihood. Both Chand and Ramratan are large scale sucker farmers from the Island of Wakenaam. Their faces are known to those visiting the Parika Stelling, especially on a Sunday morning.

They were standing on the Parika wharf one Sunday morning with over 800 bunches of plantains waiting for their buyer to arrive when the Pepperpot Magazine approached them. Both farmers chose the path of diversification since the rice industry was becoming challenging. They currently cultivate acres of plantain and pumpkin as another crop.

Forty-eight-year-old Karam Chand from Melville Wakenaam said he was introduced to farming when he was a child. Chand said his father Willi Bodlall taught him and his three brothers to farm in an effort to earn a livelihood. For years, he said, his family was in rice farming but for sometime the crop was not doing well, as such, they had decided to take the risk and invest in plantain suckers.

“Today I have not regretted anything. I have 40 acres of land doing [plantain] suckers and in between I plant pumpkin. I have seen a better life with suckers as opposed to planting rice. Once you attend to your sucker properly, then your harvest will be a bumper one,” Chand said.

When asked if the crop is usually threatened by diseases he recalled sometime back in 2016 he had invested $31 million Guyana dollars and only reaped $6 million due to the black siga toka disease. However, due to technical advice, the farmers are receiving from relevant ministries and authorities the disease is currently under control.

Chand currently cultivates a large plot on the Troolie Island and has 15 employees overlooking his farm. Although suckers are an annual crop, he said when harvesting time reaches, a farmer does not regret. He reaps close to 400 bunches weekly and visits his farm as early as 05:00hrs in the morning.

Like Chand, Deodat Ramratan is also into the ‘sucker’ business. He cultivates 30 acres of plantain and pumpkin on the Troolie Island and Wakenaam areas. Ramratan, a father of two children, said that like Chand, he was introduced to farming since he was a small boy and that it is something that he won’t give up doing.

His five other siblings are also into farming which has provided many opportunities to raise their standard of living. Ramratan said that his largest bunch of plantain weighs 140 pounds and it is of the creole variety. “I grow up in farming, I was taught to do so and this is what I do to provide for my family. I love farming and it makes me develop in life,” Ramratan said.

MORE MARKETS
Both farmers are lobbying with relevant authorities to have a space at the Stabroek Market where they can take truckloads of plantain to sell. “At the moment, we are left at the mercy of our buyer’s. Whatever price they call is that because we already brought our plantain out to the stelling and we can’t keep it for long, but if we have a special area where we can be given as plantain farmers then we can go and take our produce and sell,” one of the farmers related.

At the moment, they said plantain is retailed at the price of $70 per pound and often fluctuates due to an unstable market. The farmers recalled when the industry was booming and they were offered $90 per pound. To transport their produce to the Parika Stelling, it costs them as much as $31,000 in addition to the landing fee they pay. They both explained that they are using machinery on their farm as opposed to manual labour. Lack of supervision on the Parika wharf is one of the major challenges.

COMMISSIONING OF PLANTAIN FACTORY

Both farmers believe that if the plantain factory that was built on the Island can be commissioned it would be a boost to the sucker industry and the economy of the Island. At the moment, the factory is currently out of operation and the building is a “white elephant”.

If the factory is in operation, the farmers believe that they will “be able to supply plantains in large quantities and also youths and other persons on the island can get employment.”