Farmer Rico Dyall is appealing to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for help in dealing with rats and monkeys that feast on his crops.
Dyall, who farms at Lears, St Michael, said he has so far spent $4 000 in an effort to deal with the pests which were tearing into his watermelons and biting the irrigation drips.
Dyall secured the land in February through the ministry’s Farmers’ Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) programme, which accommodates individuals with a desire to establish agricultural enterprises in a variety of farming systems.
He grows watermelons, cantaloupes and sweet potatoes but he said the conditions were not ideal.
“We’re growing them in the conditions where they’re infested with rats, and you’re not getting much. You’re not getting enough money for your labour and for the chemicals. You’re not getting enough profits to turn over to do something and it’s very expensive to do farming in this country,” he said.
“I would just like the ministry to come out here and see what the farmers are doing, because a lot of the farmers are actually
making an effort to farm but the challenge is, we’re preventing them from farming.
“We also have a challenge with horses at the end of the lot but we get the most challenges with the rats . . . and the monkeys because of the bushy and vacant lots around the surroundings,” he said.
Dyall added that he reached out to the ministry for assistance but said the last response came six weeks ago. With only three weeks left before the harvest of his watermelons, he fears he may not have much crop left.
Efforts to reach Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir for a response were unsuccessful up to press time.
(JRN)
