‘Burnt out’: St Mary farmers bemoan wipeout of crops due to bush fires

Farmers in St Mary are counting the mounting losses of weeks of bush fires – worsened by prolonged dry conditions – that have swept through agricultural communities, destroying crops, irrigation equipment and farm infrastructure. Farmer Owen Hanshard said large sections of the parish have been affected by fires that have moved across mountainsides and into farming areas, leaving some properties almost unrecognisable. “Most of St Mary is being gutted by fire,” Hanshard said.

“There was this huge fire that I don’t know where it started from, but it has traversed along the mountainside and all over the place.” He said one farm he visited was severely damaged, with irrigation equipment and other resources destroyed. “The place was burnt out, unrecognisable,” he said. “I used some of our equipment because we have our water hose and certain things here that’s used to irrigate the farm.

They were burnt up.” Hanshard said the fires have continued in several communities, including Montreal, Rock River and Clarke Castle, with some areas difficult for firefighters to access because of the remote and rugged terrain. “Some of the areas that it has been going, it’s so remote, though the fire unit would have come there, they cannot get access to those places,” he said. “So, it’s like all they can do is just watch it burn.” What’s worse, he said efforts to fight the fires have been complicated by low water levels in rivers, limiting the ability of residents to pump water to contain the flames.

“The river has gotten so low that they had a pump; they were trying to pump some water to see if they could maybe expend the fire, but it didn’t work,” he said. Hanshard said while his own farm suffered losses, other farmers have been hit much harder. “Mine was impacted, but not as severe as other persons.

I’ve lost some cane and some plantain,” he said. He praised the Jamaica Fire Brigade for responding to calls, but noted that the terrain often prevented them from reaching the affected areas. “The (Jamaica) Fire Brigade really turned up,” he said.

“I can remember four consecutive times when I was over there that they came. But having come, there’s nothing that they could have done because of how the terrain is.” Another farmer, Dave Evans, who operates a nine-acre farm, said the impact has been devastating after more than three months of drought conditions left crops vulnerable.