Trelawny Farmers Urged to Adopt Climate-Resilient Practices

Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Trelawny Parish Manager, Courtney Taylor, is encouraging more farmers to adopt climate-resilient practices to boost production and ensure food security.

The call comes in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, which caused significant damage to the country’s agricultural sector.

“Climate change is not a joke. It’s something that we’ll have to live with for the rest of our lives,” Mr. Taylor told JIS News.

“We are trying to build the resilience of these farmers. Whatever they are doing, they should be doing it in a very climate-smart manner,” he added.

Mr. Taylor said that RADA is assisting farmers to build resilience, including establishing water storage ponds.

“Those who don’t have a pond, we are encouraging them to dig their ponds, and we will assist them (by providing pond liners). Those who are in groups, we will assist them to excavate the ponds and also assist with pond liners,” he said.

Meanwhile, with Trelawny being primarily a yam producing area, RADA is encouraging the parish’s farmers to plant short-term crops to maintain cash flow, while production of the tuber recovers in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Mr. Taylor told JIS News that it will take another six to nine months for yam production to recover.

He highlighted the success of watermelon and cantaloupe in northern Trelawny, suggesting the planting of these crops.

“Some of these crops that we know traditionally are grown in places like St. Elizabeth, what we have observed is that some of these crops are doing extremely well in the [northern] section of the parish,” he said.

“I believe production should be marketable. We’re not going to encourage any production unless we know that there are already markets in place,” he pointed out.

Mr. Taylor reiterated RADA’s commitment to helping farmers recover and get back into production “and to be stronger than before.”