Double whammy

WESTERN BUREAU:

“This is a double blow,” was how yam farmer Robert Powell described the assault on his two south Trelawny farms by Hurricane Beryl and the destructive yam rust disease.

“This yam was supposed to be ready by next month, but as you can see, the leaf dem have started to [fall], so you know that the produce is not going to make it. Right now, you cannot even dig it because you might lose the head,” he explained.

Yam rust, also known as Goplana dioscorea and Goplana australis, is reportedly caused by a fungal pathogen. Its symptoms include yellow spots or pustules on upper leaf surfaces. The fungus has been spotted in south Trelawny, north Manchester, and sections of Clarendon.

Powell told The Gleaner that his negro yam farm in Lorrimers has received a devastating blow from the invasive fungus, which he says started to turn up on the leaves of his 1,400 hills of yams approximately two months ago.

The rust disease, coupled with Hurricane Beryl – which also affected his 3,000 hills of yellow yams planted in the neighbouring community of Litchfield – has brought Powell to his knees.

According to the farmer, his yellow yams were gravely affected by the strong winds of the July 3 Category 4 storm, which devastated farms across the island.

“This damage has affected my whole entire life,” Powell told The Gleaner during a visit to his farm in Lorrimers on Wednesday afternoon.

He noted that the produce from the farms were expected to not only prepare his three children for the upcoming school year, but to roof his small grocery store in Lorrimers.

“I was relying on this grung because I am constructing a building out there, and I guarantee that this grung could have put on the roof and do other maintenance, but now it’s gone,” the farmer, whose produce is usually supplied to the export market, lamented.

While representatives from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority have visited his negro yam farm in a bid to assist in the fight against the yam rust disease, Powell said that he is yet to see an improvement in the condition of his crops.

He said the yellow yams are not as badly affected, and they have started work to save the produce.

“I just told myself the other day that any how mi find myself a struggle again, because I have been through struggling already, but if I find myself struggling again, I will try to [migrate] because mi can’t tek struggling again,” the frustrated farmer told The Gleaner.

GRATEFUL FOR ANYTHING

He is hoping that the Ministry of Agriculture will offer relief to farmers who have suffered from the hurricane and are also battling the yam rust disease.

“Two bags of fertiliser cannot help this damage, but I would be grateful for anything,” said Powell, who is worried that the damage sustained by yam farmers in south Trelawny may have a great impact on the supply to the export market.

“It is going to be difficult to maintain because we don’t even know if we are going to lose the yam heads. So we might not be able to supply produce to the export market,” explained Powell.

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green, who toured sections of Trelawny on Wednesday, has allocated $9 million to assist in the fight against yam rust. He also said that extensive research is being carried out to find a suitable fungicide to eradicate the disease.

rochelle.brown@gleanerjm.com