Yam farmer reaps reward during Christmas
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2021 | 12:06 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Yam farmer Richard Bailey of Virginia district in Manchester sees a high demand for his crop every year as the holiday season draws near.
On Christmas morning, yam is boiled as a complement to breakfast meals such as ackee and salt fish. It is also an ingredient in the preparation of the famous sweet potato pudding enjoyed by some during the holiday season.
Utilising a donkey to transport his yams to the roadside from his farm, Bailey told The Gleaner on Saturday that he has had to use a donkey for transport.
Making several trips to and from his land, Bailey harvested around 500 pounds in a single day to supply exporting companies and market vendors in the local market.
Bailey, who has been in the business for more than 20 years, describes the work done on the land as a constantly changing experience. This is so as money will come, and at other times it will not be enough to support himself and his wife, Bailey said.
“Sometimes it up, and another time it down ... [but] me a man weh do any likkle thing at all, farming, mix concrete and so on,” he told The Gleaner, referring to the fact that he has had to diversify his income.
“When this nuh ready, we can do a different thing,” he added, as yams can take up to 12 months to mature after being planted.
The downside to his farming duties, however, is that the success of agriculture, for him, is primarily dependent on rainfall. This, Bailey said, is because of water shortages in the community.
Queries to Andrew Canon, the National Water Commission’s manager of corporate communications, were not answered up to press time.
Bailey said further that the 10-minute walk on the steep terrain to his farm makes it difficult to transport water back and forth to hydrate his crops using a motor vehicle.
“Weh we a come from is definitely rain [because] it a guh tek too much outta we,” Bailey said, adding that he is unable to carry larger containers of water by hand.
Water woes aside, Bailey said Christmas is always a season he can count on for his crop to not only be reaped but also sold in abundance.