Slade Andre Matheson recalls his youthful days when he first began caring for plants in his kitchen garden, as this is where he developed a love for Agriculture. The 43-year-old from Brunswick Carriacou said that although caring for his kitchen garden was a norm growing up, he got much more serious around age 19.
“Around this age, you start to mature more, this is when I developed the habit of eating much healthier. This is one of the things that drove me to start planting my food.”
Slade started farming on a plot of land in Beausejour, Carriacou, partnering over the years with many of the farmers, who farm in communities such as Brunswick and Prospect Hall. His major crop is watermelon, but Matheson also supplies the market with root crops, sweet potatoes, groundnut, cassava and some vegetables. He explains his best farming technique.
“If you look at life there is a principle to everything; just like there are principles to business, there are principles to farming…you have to maintain space you have to preserve the soil. This is why I use procedures like composting; mulching.”
Slade, who is also a popular soca artiste, said his favorite part of farming is being able to grow his food. He spends most of his time on his farm. He explained his day as a farmer. “The first thing I do when I go in the garden, I walk through-out my farm and observe my plants, I water my plants, give them manure, weed… these are some things you have to do regular basis.”
He continued,” I don’t have a schedule for the work that I do. There are some weeks that I work hard every day, then there are other days where I relax.”
“PPM,” as he is affectionately known, explained that one of his major challenges as a farmer is his crops being destroyed by animals, especially in the dry season. “ We would plant fruit trees and based on the type of dry season we get, animals would eat or even destroy it and we have to start back from zero. That was one of my biggest challenges at my previous
