Our meat is clean - Riverton pig farmers face discrimination from consumers

Pig farmers at the Riverton dump in Kingston say their environment makes it ideal for animal rearing and that their produce can stand up to scrutiny and match the quality of other pigs bred elsewhere.

This declaration comes as some of the farmers believe that people think less of their produce because they live and raise the animals at the dump.

Pig farmer Nathaniel Bahdal said, "We haffi use bag feeding and medicine fi we hog dem and ting. One ton of feeding will run you all $26,000. A wul heap a work we put into raising pigs."

He told THE STAR that they are competent and stick to standards. The farmers emphasised that they keep their pens clean and feed the pigs properly

Another pig farmer said, "The whole of the farmers down here registered with RADA (Rural Agriculture Development Authority). We have we ID and the thing ligit. Yuh see di environment dung ya? It ideal fi grow di hog dem."

LONG-TIME FARMER

One of the farmers, who goes by the name 'Koolas', told THE STAR that he has been farming for 10 years and it has helped him send his eight-year-old son to school.

He said, "Every man ya suh use it fi survive. No matter when nothing nah gwan and the hog buyer dem nah come, me go out go look the people dem weh keep the fish fry dem and the cook-out dem. We still go try get a likkle one thing."

THE STAR was told that the farmers rear pigs throughout the year, but the peak season for sales is Christmas.

Koolas told our news team, "But two Christmas now we nuh sell nothing; back to school, nothing. A suffer we deh ya a suffer. We haffi just know say a Riverton this and we can hustle other things."

They lamented that they have no one to help them in getting sales and build on what they have started.

Bahdal said, "Hog dem haffi get feed two times a day. We nuh have none; no councillor, no MP, nothing we nuh have. We jus' dedicate we self to it 'cause it's a hard-working thing, tek out the whole a your likkle energy out of you. Hog work a one a di hardest work on land. That a our exercise."