Donkeys carry sweet juice in St Catherine hill

It is reaping time for sugar, and donkeys are working overtime in some rural communities. Such is the reality in the hills of Duxes, St Catherine, where Adrian Miller was seen with his beast, stacking sugar cane by the side of the road.

Miller told The STAR that handling the jackass is not his everyday job, but he has decided to give a helping hand to his family members, who do it almost all the time.

When our news team visited Duxes, Point Hill, last week, Miller was seen in his water boots, leading the donkey from the cane fields where three other men were seen chopping the sweet stick and putting them in heaps. The sugar cane, once gathered from the fields, is placed on the donkey's back and taken to the side of the road.

"We chop the cane and stack them here, and when we done we call the people them from the Worthy Park Estate for pickup," he said.

Miller's brother, who also works in the field, says sugar cane reaping is seasonal, and so persons have to learn many skills in order to survive.

"Me work on construction site but things slow down for a bit so me take advantage of this," he said.