– as they heed gov’t call to grow more

IT has become increasingly noticeable that Guyanese are taking agriculture more seriously, and therefore the markets have become more competitive. In Linden, there has been an approximate 20% increase in the number of community-based farmers providing the markets on both the Mackenzie and Wismar shores with home-grown crops.

That this had not been happening before was of major concern to regional officials, who, through an aggressive drive to move the town to self-sufficiency, and by so doing reduce the demand for out-of-town produce, launched a campaign to reintroduce as many Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) farmers to the market.

Many have heeded this call, and while there is not a glut on the market at present, farmers are seeking out ingenious ways of staying ahead of the competition, since many outside-sourced food is still giving them a run for their money.

One of those people who heeded the call and taken up the challenge is West Watooka farmer, Myrtle Gentle, who, though a woman, has raised the bar even higher than her male counterparts by providing for Lindeners home-grown crops that are very delicate and challenging to grow, more so in the muddy West Watooka soil.

But despite the many challenges, Gentle has managed to remain positive, and is reaping overwhelming benefits. The hard-to-come-by crops she grows right in Linden other than the traditional cash-crops are cauliflower, beetroot, broccoli and carrots. And though she spends long hours tending to these ‘special’ crops, she has no intention of giving up on them, because she enjoys seeing the smiles on her customers’ faces when she takes her crops to the market on Fridays.

VERY LITTLE FERTILISER
She makes it a point of assuring all her customers that she tries to use fertilisers as sparingly as possible, and after buying from her a few times, they have come to realise that she is telling the truth, and just keep on supporting her. “Because of the high fertiliser, it won’t last long,” Gentle said. “But they know when they come to buy mine, it will last in the fridge, and it will keep until they are ready to cook. So they look forward for me on Friday,” she added.

She said that it is because of this very niche market she now has in Linden, she is able to support her family. As she reasoned, “If a customer knows they can come to my stand and get a crop that they can’t get at another stand that is grown right in Linden, they will end up purchasing the other regular crops they need right there.”

Among the other cash-crops she grows are bora, pak choi, cabbages, sweet peppers, and boulangers. She said that her greatest challenge when she first started was setting up a shade house so as she could have crops year-round, particularly during the rainy season, given the delicate nature of her crops.

An optimist by nature, Ms. Gentle already sees herself as the go-to person for Lindeners who depend on her for their low-fertilizer crops, and is determined to push through despite the challenges. “It is a great challenge; a real challenge for me, but I want to see success, and I know I will, because of the effort I put into it,” she said.

Describing a typical day for her, the mother-of-four said that she gets out of bed very early in the morning so she could tend to her crops and poultry. Thursday is her busiest day, she said, because she has to prepare to catch the market on Friday, and this means ensuring that her products are well packaged and presented.

PACKED AND READY
“When I get there on Friday and people are waiting on you,” she said, “you cannot go there to count bora and give people; you have to have everything prepared so that when they come rushing, you are ready to serve.

“On Thursday night I go to bed sometimes after two, just trying to put things together, so that when I get to the market, it can look presentable.”

The municipality has only allocated her Fridays and Saturdays to sell at the Republic Avenue spot she occupies, and because she is a Seventh Day Adventist, she can only sell on Fridays, which she finds very limiting, because the way she works allows her to harvest a maximum three days per week. She believes that more consideration should be given to local farmers, and that a regularised area should be designated to them.

In addition to farming and poultry rearing, Ms Gentle is also into apiculture, which is another unpopular form of agriculture taken up by women. She recently graduated from an apiculture course run by the Linden Enterprise Network, and has since successfully taken down a hive.

An active member of the West Watooka Farming Association, she would like to encourage other women to get involved in agriculture, which she sees as being “the next big thing to the oil industry”, and to, like her, find ingenious ways of conquering the market and finding their niche. “Agriculture is a full-time job,” she said. “So, if you want to do agriculture; you want to have a salary, I would say you need to spend time; you need to have a programme.”