Former RADA parish manager establishes farm enterprise

Former manager for the Rural Agricultural Development Authority's (RADA) St Thomas Parish Office, Caswell Glover, is enjoying a fruitful retirement thanks to his investments in a farm enterprise.

Glover, who owns G-Lovers Orchard in Rozelle, has utilised seven of his eight acres of farmland to grow a variety of fruits, which he harvests, processes, packages and sells. His products include breadfruit, banana, plantain and cassava chips, breadfruit and banana flour, fruit wines and juices and dried fruit snacks. The Pear Tree River resident told JIS News that the idea to establish a business evolved from his overseas travels during his tenure at RADA.

"When I returned from countries like Vietnam, every farmer group I happened to meet with, I tried to sell the idea of having value-added production as a type of marketing strategy," he explained. Upon retiring in 2013, the trained agriculturalist followed his own advice and started his business with the help of relatives and several workers from the community.

"The response has been awesome. I do quite a bit of festivals, expos and farmers' markets and at all these public forums, my goods are sold out," he pointed out.

One of Glover's specialities is the pairing of breadfruit or plantain chips with red herring or salt fish, which is immensely popular in convenience stores, supermarkets, gas stations and schools in St Thomas.

"Originally, these were intended as bar snacks, but [they have] taken off beyond the bar. The breadfruit chips particularly are popular at Morant Bay High School," he said. Prior to his entrepreneur career, Glover said that like many other local farmers, he experienced several challenges, including vandalism and praedial larceny.

Glover, through his farm enterprise, has adopted measures to counter the "extremely high" level of praedial larceny he faces and plays his part in ensuring food security. He reaps his crops at different stages of their growth and prepares them for processing before they can be reaped by thieves upon reaching maturity.

Additionally, he grows different varieties of trees, such as the Ma'afala breadfruit, which is fast-growing but noticeably smaller than most crop types in Jamaica. Because of the tree's appearance, thieves are not drawn to it. Glover has developed a wide range of products from each fruit and maximises his harvest before vandals or thieves can wreak havoc.

"Take, for example, coconuts ... there are a number of products that I get from the single fruit. I do a jelly water, a coconut wine, coconut drops, gizzadas and coconut oil," he indicated.

Glover said that the same principle is applied to many of the other fruits he cultivates, such as plantain and banana.

"If I was depending on the sale of fresh produce to higglers and exporters, I would not survive," he said. "If I wasn't doing a little processing, maybe I would have abandoned the farm a long time ago. I use this value-added production as a marketing strategy."

Glover is thankful that his products are also able to reach overseas, with visitors seeking to take a sample of Jamaica back to their countries being among his major clientele. Glover, who spent 38 years with the agriculture ministry, is eyeing a bright future for his business and has an active social media presence where he mainly utilises Facebook and Instagram to post and promote his products. He said that he continues to encourage local farmers to take a businesslike approach to their livelihood.