Beet armyworm holding onion farms hostage

Onion farmers in Heartease, St Thomas, are worried that they could suffer millions in losses as a beet armyworm outbreak in their fields wreaks havoc on their current crop even as they believe that the Government is not doing enough to help them.

According to the farmers, while the Government, through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), provided them with onion seeds, fertilisers, and other necessities for farming, they need more assistance to fight the worms that are sucking the nutrients that the onions should have been getting from their green leaves and stem.

Last week, some farmers started reaping crops from the onion seeds they sowed in October last year while others are on the verge of harvesting theirs. However, the onion bulbs are half their potential sizes.

In upcoming days and weeks when they reap the multiple acres of land under cultivation, some farmers fear that they will get half the weight they could have reaped. Their projected earnings of between $17,000 and $20,000 per acre are now being jeopardised.

Last Thursday, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Pearnel Charles Jr, along with officials from RADA and other sector stakeholders, toured onion farms in Heartease and Llandewey in the eastern parish.

Onion farmer Pencel Bowen is concerned about the beet armyworm invasion.

He told The Gleaner that the ministry and RADA were aware of a possible solution that can eradicate the worms, but he and other onion farmers say it is on the list of items banned from being imported into the island as they called for the lifting of the prohibition.

“I don't know the real name of it, but we call it 'Bad Boy' or 'Miracle Cure', and St Elizabeth people a get it [illegally]! We want it to!” the 59-year-old Bowen, who has been farming since he was 15 years old, told The Gleaner on Sunday.

Bowen showed bottles with various chemicals they have been using to treat the crops without success.

“These chemicals, which sell in the store for killing pests, cannot kill the armyworms. However, we know there is a chemical that can kill the armyworm, which people is saying it is banned and shouldn't be here, but if gun is coming in here, which is banned and is doing worse than that, ... give we some of it. Save the farmers because the farmers are not only healing, but the farmers are helping the Government, just as how the Government has helped us,” he said.

Bowen expressed concern for fellow farmers who had taken out loans to clear land, plant the crop, pay for water, and cover other expenses with diminished returns.

“ ... Dem a go lose. A dem mi worry 'bout because we don't want the youth dem fi turn back to guns when dem get disappointed when dem onion come out small. We want dem to stay in farming, but if dem can't pay back di bank, wa dem a go do?” he pondered.

Lawrence Lynch, a young farmer and marketing officer at the Yallahs Agro Park, who has been growing onions for nine years, told The Gleaner that some of the farmers from the area planted their crops late because the first set of onion seeds they received late last year did not produce viable seedlings.

Those seedlings were burnt and new crops planted later than the usual time in October.

“Last year's seeds were not tested and they failed. The onion seeds, when we planted them, they weren't germinating at the rate or the percentage that we seek, so what we had to do, we had to sit and wait until they sourced the seed, and that push us back late, causing us to plant so late,” he explained.

“And when we plant so late,” Lynch continued, “the challenge of the beet armyworm come in and affecting the farmers out here, and it's a real challenge because it's a business. ... This is about feeding our families. Some of our planters do not plant any other time except for this time, so this crop has to last their children and last their family for the rest of the year until next season, so it's very critical and very important that we get every step right.”

Lynch is calling for seeds to be tested at the Bodles Research Station or a reputable germination company before planting goes forward.

“We are too advanced in technology and education for us to be repeating this process. I hope in the upcoming season our Government and those who are looking out for us will truly do their due diligence and serve us as Jamaicans,” he said.

Responding to questions from The Gleaner, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said that farmer-training engagements relating to onion pest management were ongoing.

“Following the approach taken in St Elizabeth and southern Manchester and with the expansion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the National Onion Programme's monthly Beet Armyworm (BAW) Risk Assessment and Pest Forecasting activity was extended to St Thomas to assist population monitoring, planning, and early action activity for BAW area-wide management,” the ministry said.

It noted that beet armyworm has been a significant pest of onions and scallions in south Manchester and St Elizabeth since the 1970s.

“In recent years, it has caused significant damage, leading to outbreaks in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2017, which cost over J$140 million,” the ministry said in a release, adding that it has carried out various interventions, including farmer training and information dissemination.

The ministry said farmers should expect the worms annually.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com