Bernard Lodge farmer reels after Rio Cobre woes

For more than three decades, Bernard Lodge-based farmer Donnie Gaynor has looked forward to the Yuletide season with optimism. It is the time of year that his he gets the best price for his livestock, and he normally gets a pretty penny for his sorrel as well.

This year, however, Gaynor is not anticipating a merry Christmas season. He said that his farm has been hard hit by the recent pollution of the Rio Cobre as the poisoned water led to the deaths of two dozens of his pigs and caused his plants to rot.

Many farmers in the Bernard Lodge area of St Catherine access water from the Rio Cobre by way of canals which runs through the farms. The effluent-contaminated river led to a massive fish kill. Gaynor said the impact of the contamination extended to farmers like him.

"A di canal we get water from, so all a dah acre here weh yuh a look pon did full a ockra and sorrel, but all a dem dead off when di fish kill happen. I don't know what kinda chemical did inna dat water," Gaynor said.

"Mi lost one crop a sorrel and dat is about $150,000. Mi nuh get any assistance at all, is just di man dem dung suh whe lose di fish, a just dat mi hear dem a talk bout. Mi did have sweet pepper you name it and all a dem burn up but a just so it go yah man," he said.

The pigs, he said, died as a result of consuming the poisoned water.

"About two dozen pigs dead off," said Gaynor who estimated the loss of his livestock at $500,000.

The government is set to payout $16 million in compensation to fisherfolk affected by the July fish kill.

Gaynor, while hopeful that the authorities will consider compensating him for his losses, said he is not going to throw in hoe and machete as a result of his misfortune.

"Mi start use back the water from the canal on mi plants because it safe yah now, so in truth and fact mi just pick up the pieces and continue. A dat all a di farmers dem round dis side do ... We cut we losses and carry on," Gaynor said.

"Mi a guh buy back mi pig dem because nuh matter what, mi can't stop raise pigs," he said.