Farming back in Deacons Farm, as MP plans youth job boost

St Michael North West MP Neil Rowe has revived his community farming project in Deacons and announced plans to expand it to create more jobs and training opportunities for young people after earlier challenges stalled the initiative.

The Northwest Alliance Agricultural Project, which began in 2019, was born out of a desire to give a young man from the community a second chance, he told reporters on Thursday.

The group is currently cultivating carrots, beans, beetroot, lettuce and okra, and managing “20 black belly sheep and growing”, said project participant Vincent Edwards. “Anything we plant down here we does get sold.”

The idea took shape when a young resident, after returning home from prison, struggled to find employment, Rowe said.

“When a young man from his community first came home from jail and was looking for work and at that time it was very challenging in being able to find a job for him… I asked him if there was anything else that he would like to do, and he told me he don’t mind going into farming,” Rowe said. “I suggested to him to look for a piece of government land in the community, and I would take the opportunity in turning it into an agricultural project.”

The project faced hurdles, particularly in securing a reliable water supply. Rowe said navigating the administrative process was also not easy, but the issue was eventually resolved.

“It had some challenges in relation to water supply, but despite that I managed to overcome that hurdle, despite all the red tape that I had to go through… and being able to assist these guys with having their own water supply, which they do have now,” he said.

Rowe presented tools to the young farmers to help them continue their work. “I trust that these tools will help the youngsters who are working on this project to be of good use and to help them to reap whatever they sow where this project here is concerned,” he said.

Rowe said he intends to broaden the initiative to include more aspiring farmers across the constituency. “My aim is to really expand this project… because I always say that farming is a livelihood and anybody that is serious about farming… could make a decent living from farming.”

Plans are also in place to diversify operations.

“They want to move from obviously the crops to animal husbandry, whereas we would be looking to invest in chickens and rabbits and things like that,” he said, noting that additional land space and fencing would be introduced to improve security.

Project participant Vincent Edwards said transforming the once overgrown lot had long been on his mind.

“It was always in my brain… It was always a jungle… there needs to be something done with the land,” he said. “I asked my man Neil; he told me work everything and he will back me. So I do what I had to do.”