‘We need help too,’ pleads Manchester farmer

Sheron Honeygon, the sole female in a group that was chopping and clearing fallen trees along a section of road in Smithfield, Manchester, on Wednesday, was drenched in sweat as they tried to get things back to normal after the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

Honeygon, a farmer, said her livelihood has been impacted significantly by the hurricane that lashed sections of the island approximately two weeks ago. She went into her phone's gallery and showed the news team photographs of seven goats, all dead.

"Over 20 years mi a raise goats and is the first this a happen to mi. Mi seven goats dem just dead ... drown ... or mi don't know if it's the breeze. Two of them was pregnant, so yuh know that is a big loss. It set mi back big time, because goats carry price, so just right there so alone mi lose close to $200,000. I have life, so I am going to start over, " Honeygon said.

She then skipped to pictures of her waterlogged farm, and noted that she also lost more than 70 hills of yam, in addition to sweet pepper and gungo peas.

"The field waterlogged. Mi a tell yuh say this is the roughest hurricane mi ever go through. This is not the first time mi have to pick up the pieces and start over, but this time it very hard. But mi nah give up," Honeygon said.

As she watched the men use a power saw to cut away a section of a tree that was lying on several utility wires, she said she is urging the relevant authorities not to turn a blind eye to Manchester's farmers.

"Too much focus is on St Elizabeth, and scallion and thyme alone can't feed people. Of course, dem get knock hard, but we need help, too. There are farmers in Manchester, too," she said.

Telecommunications contractors were observed working in the area; but for now, Honeygon said she has to travel at least 12 miles to make or receive a phone call. She said she hopes that the phone services will be back to normal soon.

"I have to go all the way to Mandeville to make a phone call. Digicel not perfect, but a lot of the times it's the people dem that tief the wires and other things and make it hard for the phone company dem to fix the phone lines fast enough. Last week, mi daughter meet in a car accident and injured her back, and I didn't even know until days later when I go Mandeville to make calls," Honeygon said.