Police sergeant has a passion for farming

Female farmers made up most of the audience at the Jamaica Pig Farmers Association's 19th annual general meeting held on at the Denbigh Agricultural Showground in Clarendon last Thursday.

Among them was Sergeant Delrose Green- Johnson, of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, who is enjoying balancing her profession and her passion. Green-Johnson, a prosecution liaison officer at the Portland Parish Court, has been a pig farmer for two years. She shared that managing both roles has not been an easy feat.

"I look about my pigs myself along with the persons that work with me, so from four to six o'clock in the morning we are on the farm, then I go to work at 8 o'clock and do my regular policing duties. And from 6 to 8 o' clock at nights, I'm back on the farm washing out the pig pen and making sure I prepare for tomorrow morning, so it is indeed a task," she said.

Green-Johnson said she became a farmer by mere coincidence, but it has become a way of life since then.

"Two years ago a friend gave me four pigs to sell to make some money and send back my children to school, and by feeding them, I began to fall in love with them and I began to expand," she said.

That expansion led her to start a meat business, Premium Country Grown Meats. She said that through research, she is able to supply quality meat to her customers.

"We feed our animals on 50 per cent bag feed and 50 per cent organic feed, so the quality of the meat is extremely good," she said.

Life as a farmer has not been smooth sailing for Green-Johnson, who cited natural disasters and the constant increases in feed prices among her greatest woes. But despite having to increase the price for her meat, she said that this has not affected her sales.

Green-Johnson theorises that agriculture is the face of a new Jamaica, and sees herself as an advocate for farming.

"I think in Jamaica, we should gravitate towards farming because that's the way to go. I tell my fellow police officers that farming should be a part of their retirement plan," she said.