Contributed
Young farmer, Vijay Smith

In 1999, at the age of 18, Vijay Smith won his first Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) Young Farmers Awards. By the time he was 22, Vijay had won three others.

Long before that, it was his stepfather who, unwittingly, got him started when he cleared four acres of land to plant grass for cattle.

On the advice of Cyril Chambers, retired Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) marketing manager, Vijay planted a crop of pumpkin along with the grass, so as to maximise the use of the land.

The yields were good and so were the profits, as exporters rushed to buy the pumpkin straight from the farm gate.

Switched focus

However, Vijay, a born businessman, saw that papaya farmers were earning more money per acre than he could make for pumpkin, and given the size of this market, he switched his focus.

The yields from his three-acre plot encouraged him to lease an additional 10 acres in order to expand his production to meet the growing export market demand.

Outbreak of disease

But, at the height of his success, disaster struck in the form of the papaya ring spot disease.

"I had won the JAS Young Farmers Award for three years running - in 1999, 2000 and in 2001 - and I was determined not to give up," said Vijay.

The young farmer's immediate response to the disease outbreak was to harvest the papaya he had in the ground, and begin producing different crops, including hot pepper, for which he found willing buyers like Rita Symes and Agriventure's Ltd.

"I didn't think it was wise to replant papaya on the same land on account of the disease. In addition, I needed to move away from hillside farming to level land with a good water source, where I could set up a proper irrigation system, because I wanted to get back to growing papaya," explained Vijay.

Mechanise the farm

His search for flat land with adequate water took to him to Georgia in 2005, where, with loan financing from a commercial bank, he leased a 70-acre plot from Jamaica Producers and bought a tractor, along with modern farm equipment, including an orchard mister (sprayer) and a reaping trailer to move back into commercial papaya production for export.

"To be successful, you must run your farm like a business and be prepared to mechanise in order to keep up with the competition," said Vijay.

The passage of Hurricane Dean devastated the 20-acre papaya field he had in production at the time. He also lost the six-acre hot-pepper plot from which he had been harvesting some 14,000 pounds on a weekly basis for sale to Walkerswood, Central Packers and Pepper King.

Not giving up

Today, Vijay has only six acres in papaya production, and is reaping approximately 8,000 pounds weekly, which he sells to local supermarket chains and higglers.

"I'm still not giving up," he said. "Based on my losses as a result of the hurricane, I'm trying to secure financing to go into protected cultivation, using the greenhouse technology the Ministry of Agriculture is promoting. The yields are higher, and at least with the greenhouse, you have a fighting chance if a hurricane strikes."

Vijay is the current holder of the 2007 National JAS Young Farmers Award.

In addition, he recently won the 2008 Young Farmers Award for the parish of St Mary.