Left in St Elizabeth’s shadow

Amid her roadwork efforts post-Hurricane Beryl, Sheron Honegon took a moment to scroll through her phone on Wednesday, visibly saddened by images of her seven deceased goats.

Two weeks after the Category 4 hurricane, she has embarked on a path to recovery, starting with her participation in a crash programme to make ends meet.

The Manchester native said Beryl devastated her farm when it passed the island on July 3.

“[It’s] a big setback, yes, but mi affi still gwan … . Seventy-odd hill of yam destroyed, plus sweet pepper and gungo,” Honegon, the sole female among the crew clearing heavy vegetation along the roadway that connects Pusey Hill and Cross keys in the central Jamaica parish.

A registered farmer with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Honegon, who is from Cocoa Walk district, believes that Manchester farmers are being left in St Elizabeth’s shadow in the post-hurricane relief efforts.

“Everybody a talk ‘bout St Elizabeth a breadbasket. Scallion and thyme can’t feed people. A Manchester plant food, so mi wah know why unno a say St Elizabeth a breadbasket,” she charged, adding that there was “too much focus on St Elizabeth”.

Honegon tallied her livestock losses at nearly $100,000.

“A di breeze kill dem, it look like,” she said of the seven dead goats, which included two rams.

She told The Gleaner that she was eagerly awaiting assistance, noting that she did not receive any after the last storm.

“I sent the pictures to Mr Alvaranga, so let’s see,” she said, referring to Giovanni Alvaranga, the RADA extension officer for the Cross Keys area in Manchester.

“The last storm pass, mi ground did mash up and mi nuh hear nothing from dem (RADA), so mi tell him say no bother mek it happen like the last time,” Honegon said.

In the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green said the estimated losses in the local agriculture sector post-Hurricane Beryl have surged to $4.73 billion, with more than 48,000 farmers affected.

In the days immediately following the hurricane, he had put the preliminary tally at $1 billion.

Green said on Tuesday that more than 323,000 animals were lost in the storm, including small ruminants, poultry, and cattle.

The agriculture minister, who is the member of parliament for St Elizabeth South Western, said the Government will provide $700 million to aid recovery efforts, noting that the nation’s farmers have suffered a devastating blow.

Honegon said that south Manchester also has other issues affecting their livelihoods as they have had no potable water in her area for decades.

“There is no running water. None nuh deh ‘round here so for more than 40 years in Grove Town Division, south Manchester,” she told The Gleaner.

“We need road and water.” She added, “The light soon come back.”

Honegon said that since the passage of Beryl, she has to go to Mandeville – 12 miles from her home in Cocoa Walk – whenever she wants to make a call.

“Can you imagine? For the last two weeks, my phone don’t ring at my home. I have to go Mandeville. All mi daughter meet in accident and a when me on my way a go Mandeville and get the call mi realise,” she said, adding that her daughter is now recovering in hospital.

The farmer noted, however, that citizens are partly to be blamed for the slow return of telephone services because of the theft of copper wires.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com