A love affair with his farm

In the parish of St James, where many young people opt for office jobs or even risk their lives for ill-gotten gains in the illicit lottery scamming, Damion Hilton of Kensington in St James, has fallen in love with his farm.

For five days a week, the 23-year-old farmer can be found busy at work on his three-acre farm overflowing with bananas, pineapples, cherries and an assortment of other fruits and vegetables.

Admirably, this was all achieved in a year's span after his grandfather passed away, but not before willing acres of land to his grandson, who now takes pride in the agricultural trade.

"Scamming, I'm not really up to it because for that quick cash I might up end losing my life plus I am a church man so there is no way I would get involve in that," said Hilton, a former student of Maldon High School.

"Right now, I have a friend who I am trying to bring into the farming, and I gave him two acres of land already. He started and it's going good because I would not like to see him take up scamming," he added.

Hilton not only tends to his farm but also juggles work on another property belonging to a veteran in the agriculture business. Each Thursday, the team load up their yields of banana and sell along the hotel strip in Negril.

"It is not easy work. I oftentimes have to wake up like 5:30 a.m. to cut and sleeve the banana. Plus, sometimes things are slow but it is something I love and take pride in," Hilton said.

His message to youngsters in Jamaica is that farming is a good and viable means to make a living.

"Even if you don't want to do it full time, try it as a hobby. You will like it," he stated.