SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT

GEOGRAPHY FIELD STUDY

(CSEC)

TITLE OF STUDY What are the challenges facing the peasant farmers in the Warren

Road, Bejucal, Trinidad?

1.0 Purpose of Study

What are the challenges facing peasant farmers in Warren Road, Bejucal, Trinidad?

2.0 Location of Study Area

3.0 Methodology

4.1 Introduction

Peasant farmers are farmers who grow food for themselves and for local markets, on small

farms. In this field study five farmers were interviewed. Mr.Hemraj was one of the farmers.

(Refer to table #1)

PEASANT FARM # NAME OF PEASANT FARMER

1 Mr. Hemraj

2 Mr. Ahmad

3 Mr.Manoj

4 Mr. Ramroop

5 Mr. Devanand

Figure 1: A table listing the names of the five peasant farmers and their respective farm

number interviewed at Warren Road, Bejucal.

Some of the challenges a peasant farmer face is the lack of capital, inadequate land, lack of

labour, natural disasters (such as: flooding), pest and diseases.

4.2 Size of holdings

Figure #2: A bar graph illustrating the size of holdings of each of the peasant farmers

interviewed at Warren Road, Bejucal.

In the field study all the farmers complained about the small size of their farm, this caused

their business to be less viable. In other words the more land space there has the move

profitable there would become. The typical farmer has four to five acres of land. However,

the peasant farmers that were interviewed has considerably less than this. For example, Mr.

Hemraj only has one and a half acres of land (Refer to figure #2). The peasant farmers of

Warren Road, Bejucal want more land but lack the capital and labour were two major

problems. Simultaneously this affects their ability to take care of their families. In order to

make a profit, the peasant farmers use every inch of land, in order to ensure that no land is

wasted. This can be clearly seen below in the field sketch, where a variety of crops, such as

lettuce, peppers, celery are planted.

1.5

1

2.5

1

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Mr. Hemraj Mr. Ahmad Mr. Manoj Mr. Devanand

Size

of

ho

ldin

gs

Farmers

size of holdings (acres)

Figure #3: A field sketch illustrating the layout of one of the peasant farms located along

Warren Road, Bejucal.

4.3 Poor quality soil

One of the major problems affecting the farmers of Warren Road is that the soil is of a very

poor quality with very little permeability. Which prevents the flow of water in the soil

because of this the farmers decided to use a grow box system (Refer to Figure #4). “A grow

box is a partially or completely enclosed system for raising plants indoors or in small areas.

Grow boxes are used for a number of reasons, including lack of available outdoor space or

the desire to grow vegetables, herbs or flowers during cold weather months. They can also

help protect plants against pests or disease.”

In order for farmers to create this grow box, they purchased truck loads of materials such

as, bagasse, sharp sand and all mixed to create a soil mixture that is placed on the top of

the existing soil. This also becomes a problem because the farmers still have to add artificial

fertilizers to enhance this new soil. This is very costly to the farmers. These fertilizers are

NPK, Potash, Urea and Boron, Blue Corn and Green Salt. The farmers of Warren Road,

Bejucal also complained of there farm lacking nutrients after some time.

Figure#4: A photograph illustrating the use of the grow box system on the peasant farms of

Warren Road, Bejucal.

Grow Box

4.4 Lack of capital

Figure #5: A chart listing the expenses of the peasant farmers interviewed at Warren Road,

Bejucal.

The lack of capital means that the income is flexible not guaranteed to be fixed it depends

on the crop harvested by the farmers and the markets prices and the demand by customers.

Due to the small farms, a lot of famers lacked sufficient capital to purchase machinery,

equipment, artificial fertilisers and treatment. With all of this some famers resorts to other

means of employment. For example, Mr. Ramroop is also involved in the real estate so that

he could make ends meet. Mr. Manoj works on the farms of other farmers so he too could

make ends meet.

The famers also have many expenses to handle. For instance, 80% of the farmers

interviewed stated that they pay them workers per day work by an average of $300-$350.

This is very expenses to the farmers so they hire workers part time. On the other hand they

farmers purchase seedlings from nurseries nearby which are fairly cheap for the farmers. A

crate of ochro seedlings cost a mere $40. However, the preparation of the land is very

expensive. The cost of the materials have severely gone up ten years ago, the bagasse soil

was $250 a truck load. Today, that same truck load of bagasse is $2500. Same for sharp

sand it used to be $500 and today, its $2000. These are just few of the expenses by the

peasant farmers. The others are listed above. (Refer to Figure #5)

EXPENSES

soil

salvary of workers

tools

Seedlingstransporation

fertilizers

pestisides

4.5 Lack of labour

Farmers Number of hired workers

Mr. Hemraj

Mr. Ahmad

Mr. Manoj

Mr. Ramroop

Mr. Devanand

Figure #6: A pictogram illustrating the number of workers hired by the five peasant farmers

interviewed a Warren Road, Bejucal.

The farmers of Warren Road, bejucal 60% works manually and 40% work both manually and

mechanically. These farmers work long hours every day for example Mr. Hemraj works 5-6

hours a day. The workers they hire help them in the preparing of the land for cultivation.

They tend to the seedlings and also add fertilizers such as blue corn. They water crops as

well as weeding and harvesting of the crops. They also live close by the farm. The farmer’s

family members help out for example Mr. Hemraj wife helps him. Then again 80% of the

peasant farmers interviewed indicated that they were able to hire on a few workers part

time. For example, Mr.Ahmad hires three workers.

-hired one worker.

4.6 Pest and Diseases

Pest and diseases causes severe losses to farmers’ crop. The mealey bugs affect plants with

flowers such as ochro. The whitefly melts the plants as it taps into the living tissues of the

plant with a toxic saliva. “In the pod stages, when leaves dry up, larvae move to stems and

pods, where they remove surface tissue. The seeds within a damaged pod will not fill

completely, and pods may shatter, resulting in yield loss. Larvae may also chew into pods

and eat the developing seeds. In prairie fields under severe attack by diamondback moth,

yield losses can be extreme.” These are some of the pest found (refer to Figure #7)

CROPS PESTS DISEASES

Celery Leaf miner, crickets Cercispora disease

Thyme Worms Cercispora, bacterial spot

Lettuce Worms, whitefly bacterial spot

Ochro crickets bacterial spot

Cucumber Earth worms Downy spot

Sweet potato Sweet potato bora, weavel Southern blight

Cauliflower Diamond back moth Black rot

Figure #7: A table listing the pest and diseases that affect the crops cultivated by the

peasant farmers interviewed at Warren Road, Bejucal.

The Bora disrupts the water supply. They start from the root splitting the plant through the

middle.

Figure#8 A photograph illustrating the Bora.

4.7 Simple tools and equipments

Due to the insufficient room on the small plots tractors and farm machinery are of little use

because they cannot manoeuvre. Some farmers work exclusively with basic pump, barrels

ans hard tools, such as hoes, forks, cutlasses and shovels.

They use various means to supply water to their fields (Refer to figure#9) source of water

comes from a river, canal or pond.

Figure #9: A pie chart illustrating the percentage of peasant interviewed and the type of

irrigation system which they use.

40

40

20

Water supply

canals and sprinkles(the canalsdrain out the excesss back tothe pond so that it is recycled).

overhead sprinkles (these are 4feet tall and 10-15 feet apart,where there is a specific timeand amount of water given out.

drip holes (used on flat beds inthe open land such as the growbox system.)

4.8 Lack of water

A major problem which peasant farmers face with water is that 80% of the famers

interviewed indicated that this is a problem, especially in the dry season. (Refer to figure

#10). Due to the fact, that much of the water is used by the rice farmers who are located in

the north of the peasant farms. There is also a clash with sowing times of both the rice and

peasant farmers. As a result this reduces the amount of water that is drained into the

Guayamre Canal (Refer to map 2).

WASA trucks come 2-3 times a week which is still no sufficient enough for farms.

Figure #10: a pie chart illustrating the percentage of peasant farmers who indicated that a

lack of water was a challenge for them.

80%

20%

Percentage of water

lack of water water