Patrons pleased with scaled-down Denbigh Show

Patrons were not left disappointed by this year’s one-day Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show, which took place in Clarendon on Tuesday.

Normally a three-day event, the 70th staging of the agricultural show – which was held under the theme ‘Building Back Through Resilience’ – was scaled down as a result of the disruption to the agricultural sector due to Hurricane Beryl, which struck the island on July 3.

Patrons packed the 70-acre venue for the Independence Day event despite the intense heat, an unusually small livestock exhibit that left most pens empty, and a limited amount of agricultural produce available for purchase due to the Category 4 hurricane’s blow.

“The turnout look good to me, enuh, due to how the likkle breeze blow weh just gwan, so if the [hurricane] never gwan, can you imagine [the crowd]?” patron Vincent Rose said as he spoke with The Gleaner.

He mentioned that he was not anticipating a large display of produce or livestock due to farmers still recovering from Hurricane Beryl. Consequently, he understood the significant absence of cattle, which are usually a major attraction at the event.

“So, we give thanks for whatever likkle we see,” Rose said.

During the agricultural show, the Nutramix pavilion and the Nutramix Livestock Genetic Barn, which normally house goats, sheep, cattle, and pigs, were closed.

The long-time exhibitor announced in a note posted outside the pavilion that they would not be participating in the event and would instead be concentrating all their efforts on helping the farming community.

“Our commitment to Jamaican agriculture remains unwavering. That’s why we remain on the ground, helping farmers and their families. To our farmers, we are right here with you. We look forward to returning to Denbigh 2025 with renewed energy,” the notice read.

Henrick Francis told The Gleaner that he was satisfied with what he had observed and that the few goats he had the opportunity to examine were of excellent quality.

“To what we have gone through with the hurricane and to what I’ve seen so far, it look good to me, not bad at all. I wouldn’t mark it down,” he said.

LIMITED CATTLE

He expressed some sadness that there were limited numbers of cattle on display because he believed that this was what attracted many people to the show, but also noted that no one could be blamed for this as “this hurricane wasn’t any ordinary hurricane ... and it affected farmers badly”.

“I think they’ve tried for us to come and see something,” he added, continuing that he was glad the organisers scaled down the event instead of cancelling it.

In an address at the event, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green again noted that more than 48,000 farmers and 11,000 fishers were impacted by the hurricane with nearly $5 billion in damage.

He said more than 323,000 animals – including small ruminants, poultry and cattle – were lost during the hurricane, which severely affected the island’s southern parishes of St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth, and Westmoreland, the most food-productive areas.

In terms of infrastructure, at least 236 greenhouses were damaged were destroyed.

He thanked the corporate sponsors, state entities and all the partners who collaborated with the Jamaica Agricultural Society to stage the event.

“Hurricane Beryl came at the worst possible time for our agricultural sector,” he said in an address. “Not only had we gone through two strong years of growth, [but] last year we started with our worst drought in our history and then we had our highest temperatures ever recorded, but our farmers fought through that and by the end of last year, agriculture was growing again.”

Green said that with more hectares put into production since the start of the year, the island’s farmers were looking to reap significant dividends when the hurricane struck.

With the Government already putting $700 million towards helping the agriculture and fisheries sectors recover, Green announced an additional $1.4 billion in support on Tuesday.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com