Farmer picking up the pieces following Melissa

With tiny lines of perspiration trickling down her face, Natalie Salmon stopped and rested for a few minutes under a roadside shed in Middleton Settlement, St Andrew.

Holding to a piece of PVC pipe, the farmer said she had spent the last hour manoeuvring badly broken roads that lead to her farm to repair a broken pipeline.

"The pipe burst in the bush, so I had to go and fix it; and mi a tell yuh say is a hard road, eno, because yuh still have trees that are down. But I have to go and fix the main so I can get back water on the farm. We get water from up by Catherine's Peak," she said.

Like every farmer in the East Rural St Andrew district, Salmon said her farm got a severe battering from Hurricane Melissa, but the 36-year old said she has counted her losses and is moving on. Electricity is yet to be restored in some areas of the hills, plus, a section of the Newcastle main road that leads to the community has collapsed, leaving her and other residents partially marooned.

"Sunday I kill chickens and I have to walk with them to the breakaway and get a vehicle from there to Redlight. Because we don't have any electricity, I have to just kill the chicken because they need light to survive. The fares are increased now and we still have to pay others to help us come over with the load and they charge you $1,000 to walk with a bag across the breakaway. It is rough," she said.

With Christmas being just three weeks away, Salmon said, "Nuh Christmas nuh deh here this year."

"Right now, as I mentioned earlier, I have to kill the chickens and selling them cheaper. I left them with my cousins, but both of them work, so sometimes you might get an order but it a go pass because they are not home. Business slow down and that make Christmas have to put off. Mi lose banana, plantain, coffee, and so on," Salmon said.

With Melissa greatly affecting parishes that produce the bulk of local produce, Salmon said she is willing and ready to help meet the demand.

"I don't have a problem planting because I love it, so I am willing to help get the food basket full up back again. I am just going to need some help, because this is a hard task for me alone," Salmon said.

"Mi born inna farm, eno. Mi grandparents were farmers, so mi a plant things from mi a baby. Mi have about a acre-and-a-half farm and is mi alone plant it. I get up about 5 a.m. and send the kids to school and just do mi thing. Now and again when mi family dem have time, they will give me a hand, but the majority of it is me," Salmon added.