A cocoa legacy

When Shirlet Mcghan considered returning to Jamaica from the United States following her retirement, the first thing she pondered was the kind of work she might still be able to do. After all, she had been a social worker for most of her working life, so shifting to another field – especially at her age – would not be the easiest task.

“I always had plans of returning to Jamaica after I retired. So, about a year or so before that time, I came home just to look around and see what I could do as I am still healthy and, of course, having some sort of additional income is always good,” Mcghan said.

“I got a few suggestions but continued looking around for a while. I didn’t want to do anything too labour intensive, and things have changed so much in the last couple of years; manual help for farming has got scarce and everyone is worried about praedial larceny,” she continued.

After some time, Mcghan says she was pointed in the direction of mixed agriculture – a suggestion which piqued her interest as both her father and grandfather were farmers. She recalled the days of her youth, following her father to his cocoa farms in the area.

“I didn’t know my grandfather because he died very young, but my father had these properties where it was cocoa, cocoa, cocoa all the time… . Growing up, that was the main thing to do – help reap the cocoa. In fact, that’s how we got our little pocket money by picking up what they call ‘rat cut’ and selling it,” Mcghan explained with a big smile.

This experience, as she recalls it, was over 50 years ago, but was a practice popular among the youth of the time and was representative of the Jamaican culture of yesteryear.

GROWING THE COCOA SECTOR

According to Wayne Hunter, acting director general at the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), these are the experiences that will continue to grow the cocoa sector for years to come.

“Commodities like cocoa hold a special place in the hearts and minds of Jamaicans across the world – everyone has had some experience with it in some shape or form. Either you grew up like Ms Shirtlet collecting and drying your rat cut for your little sale, or you watched the trees grow over the years after your family and community members planted it,” he explained.

“One of our goals at JACRA is to reignite these precious memories that are in the process of being forgotten. We want these memories to be passed on from generation to generation, so a new collective of farmers can come up saying, ‘Yes, I am going to plant cocoa ‘cause I saw my mother and father growing it’,” Hunter continued.

In her quest for assistance with bringing her cocoa dreams to life, Mcghan sought the aid of JACRA who function as the regulator and holder of developmental plans for the industry.

The entity provided the third-generation farmer with 84 grafted cocoa seedlings which she, along with some help from other farmers in the community, planted on a section of land she had next to her home.

“I got a lot of help from Mr Campbell (JACRA field advisory officer) on what to do with the land. He even brought in a team from JACRA to clean up the land and do everything that was necessary to prep it for the seedlings they were bringing,” Mcghan explained.

With these investments, the recently retired social worker has a fresh perspective on her future and is looking to expand to higher heights.

“I am hoping I can make it a little bigger than things are now. I really want to sell the dried cocoa beans, but I want to try them myself and find what is best before I go deeper. And who knows, maybe when I get to a certain level, I can train other farmers and buy their beans from them for selling,” Mcghan said.

“Although, that would be just like when I was a young girl. Life certainly does come full circle sometimes,” she added with a laugh.