Farmers continue to press on

At age 50, Denise Harris has defied the odds of being a housewife and has taken up her rightful position beside her husband, Dexter Thompson, making a living by working the lands to farm aback of the Mocha Arcadia Village, East Bank Demerara.

She is one of many female farmers in that community, who ‘held out’ even during the annual flooding. Harris has been farming for many years and as a female farmer it is an uphill task working side by side with her male counterparts which includes her spouse.

But she has learned so much from her other half, who has been nothing but patient and now she is a full-grown farmer, who works without supervision.

Hard work and flooding
“We depend on farming for our livelihood but it’s very hard, back-breaking work as a woman. Toiling in the sun and rain every day is no fun whether you feel like it or not,” Harris said.

She opined that farming is rewarding until the floods come then the land would become water-logged. As such, the crops would be completely destroyed and they have to re-plant all over again.

Despite this annual flooding in the village, Harris said all hope is not lost because farming has taught her to be patient. She related that every year when the rainy season starts they have to wait it out to re-start their crops and it is even a longer wait for the crops to be fully grown before they can harvest the ground provisions.

“Farming is hard work but at the end of the day it is my business and it brings in cash in the home apart from my meat bird rearing at home, it is my job which I enjoy so much, it has become my hobby,” Harris said.

This farmer added that the rearing of meat birds in their back yard supplement their income but it is an added responsibility but that is where discipline comes in. She disclosed that they also plant cash crops which are sold in the city but the ground provisions are retailed right in the community.

Multi-tasking
“My day starts early at 0:400hrs or earlier where we go to our farmlands and do work all day, sometimes until night, then I have to return home to complete regular household chores such as cooking and cleaning,” she said.

This is where time-rationing is handy because she has to multi-task and allocate time to sit and assist her school-age son with homework.

Harris said, “It is very hard, I have a Grade Six child and I have to spend time with him because I cannot leave him on his own with exams on the horizon.” Harris and her husband cultivate about five to six acres of land which requires their attendance every day.

“Even though the wait is long for reaping the crops especially the ground provisions it is something we benefit from and prefer to be patient rather than working for people, who exploit and under-pay you,” Harris said.

Roland Sam, the veteran farmer
The Pepperpot Magazine also visited the home and farm of 56-year-old Roland Sam, a veteran farmer, who spends almost all his time planting.

He has transformed his two-acre plot of leased land into his farm and uses the vegetables from his farm for his personal cooking and would sell off the excess right in Arcadia village.

Sam told the Pepperpot Magazine that he doesn’t know any other work apart from farming and started this undertaking since he was eight years old.

He stated that Mocha/Arcadia is his home village because he grew up there and spent almost 20 years in farming where he is no stranger to hard work. Sam’s farm has a wide array of fruits and vegetables and he is constantly experimenting with newer seeds/seedlings. He has since been successful in developing a new graph of basil/ ‘married man-poke’.

Living alone has made him self-sufficient and he is comfortable in his little cottage which sits in front of his farmland. Giving a little history, Sam said in 1992 he was leased the land by the then People’s National Congress (PNC) administration and it is since then he has been farming.

The farmer added that the only time he is disenchanted is when his farm is flooded. This issue remains a major bugbear in the village and it’s the sole reason why some people do not engage in farming.

He pointed out that through the Rural Agriculture Infrastructure Development (RAID) project
they have been able to benefit from a drainage pump which is located on the main access road which assists in draining the land of excess water. “I work alone because this is my way and I am experienced and operate at my own pace with no one to bother me and I do the clearing, planting, ploughing and reaping. I am not being selfish but I am comfortable like this even though it is a lot of hard work,” Sam said.

Pesticides and seeds are bought from Caribbean Chemicals and his produce are not fully organic because he uses some chemicals to get rid of pests.“I don’t like to work with people, I ‘hold out’ because of that, I prefer to be on my own and cannot deal with bosses,” Sam said.

To escape disappointment, he planted mangoes and monkey apple trees which can withstand flood waters.

Rural agriculture
The RAID project is one which targets farmers within Co-ops in various villages. The Agriculture Ministry is expected to not only assist in the clearing but also training in the areas of crop production. There had been complaints that poor drainage and irrigation greatly hinder agricultural development in the backlands.

However, Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica-Berbice) villages are benefiting from a US$3.8M grant. The grant was awarded late last year by the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) to facilitate infrastructural improvement in targeted small-scale farming communities.
The first phase of the agricultural land development project is underway in the villages of Mocha Arcadia, EBD; Beterverwagting (BV)/Triumph and Buxton, ECD, and Ithaca, West Coast Berbice (WCB). These were seen as having been “neglected” over time.