Up Front

Mr. Franklyn Smith-
Gentleman Farmer Extraordinaire

Mr.Franklyn Smith

Driving through Grand Cayman, it is commonplaceto see Namdoc and Julie mango trees complementing the green sceneof people's back and front yards.

From April to September of each year, whenthe fruits become ripe and juicy, many Caymanians and other residentshave little choices but to indulge in the habit of eating thesefruits which are rich in vitamins C, A and E. Few realize thatthese fruits are not native to Cayman.

But behind all these introduced trees andjuicy fruits, is an interesting tale of one man's desire to haveCaymanians and others residing in the islands enjoying their fairshare of God's creation.

Mr. Franklyn Smith, back in his early yearsof farming and plant nursing, introduced to the islands, manyspecies of fruits and vegetables.

His name is behind the mango species suchas the Namdoc, Julie, Carrie, Wallie and Springsel. The MarcusPumpkin, Lula, Monroe and Simmonds (originated in Jamaica) avocado,all fall under his belt. So too are melons, sweetsops, hybridnaseberry (which can weigh up to 2.5 pounds) and various speciesof custard apples.

While he gets little credit for his majorinput in the islands' food industry, it's "no big thing"to Mr. Smith. He was also instrumental in getting other farmers"started."

"It's no major thing. I am happy toknow that people are able to enjoy the fruits and vegetables,"he said.

Mr. Smith, knew when he was a young childthat he liked farming.

Indeed, farming was in his blood from hisjunior years. And so, at the young age of nine, he would followhis father and grandfather, who were farmers to their farm - occupyinghis little hands with whatever odd and light jobs that were available.

As the years passed, he got more interestedin farming. Mr. Smith explained that farming was "the hobby"of most young men who took to the fields to plant ground provisionsincluding cassava, yam, sweet potato, and pumpkin among otherscrops.

"You see in those times we were veryself-sufficient. Every man had something growing," Mr. Smithtold Cayman Net News.

In the 1970s, however, when the Cayman economystarted booming, farming took a downturn and became secondaryjobs for those involved.

"Farming started to 'phase out' asthe men picked up better paying jobs and only did farming on theside. They couldn't bother to walk for three and four miles totend to their produce each day," he explained.

Mr. Smith, on the contrary, searched, sawand conquered.

By 1978, now at the ripe age of 30, he startedfarming full-time on two acres of land in Newlands. Still determined,by 1982 he began farming on a sprawling 35 acres of land in Eastend, specializing in mangoes, bananas, avocados, pineapples, sweetsops and other fruits.

This went well until Hurricane Gilbert struckin 1988. The strong hurricane that wreaked havoc in Jamaica, Mexicoand other countries, flattened most of Mr. Smith's banana plants.

Neverto be stopped short, he "tried" with the remaining bananasand the fruit trees that the hurricane spared.

By 1985, Mr. Smith's farm was "pickingup". Later that year, he started selling his produce on theroadside in Red Bay.

Selling on the roadside was never a thoughtfor him. He was a qualified chef and was a chief steward.

Sure, he was tardy at first.

"The first day I went on the roadsideI was so coward. However, at the end of that day I went home withCI$900," he said. The money was in fact, a huge sum in thosedays.

It is with this determination in his earlieryears that his 35 acres of land, decorated with fruit trees hasbeen able to survive until today. He still maintains the trees,and sells his crops at the roadside in West Bay and at the publicbeach in Red Bay.

The farm has been sub-divided, and Mr. Smithhas incorporated various environmentally-sound practices on hisfarm.

At present, he's on a quest to create anawareness about farming and other agricultural practices amongstudents. He's planning to have a training programme to have studentscoming to his farm to learn farming techniques. A project, hehopes, will take off soon.

"I want the students to come here sothat I can pass on my knowledge to them. I have already orderedspecial knives and other tools for the students to work with,"he said.

Mr. Smith is a man with ideas. And, if hegets his way, come 2003-4, Cayman's homegrown fruits and vegetableswill dominate the local market, and perhaps find a niche on theinternational market.

But that is, if Cayman's Department of Agricultureholds talk with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)to specify what steps the islands' farmers need to take to gettheir products on the US market.

Homegrown products, he said, are stifledby the plethora of imported fruits and vegetables that have floodedsupermarkets shelves.

"Cayman could become the parade ofshipping fruits to the United States if we get the right helpand connections," Mr. Smith said.

The Government's recent announcement ofincoming agricultural products to be taxed, will help the island'sfarmers to get on board, Mr. Smith believes.

"I strongly support the government'smeasures... but that should have been done years ago," hesaid.

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