KEE FARMS presented somewhat of a challenge for patrons who could not find any exotic fruits or standout livestock from their farming operations at the recent Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Denbigh, May Pen, Clarendon.
This is because they operate from a totally different concept – farming the sea.
Chief executive officer and co-founder, Nicholas Kee, told The Gleaner that they are involved in cultivating sea weeds and raising oysters, with sea cucumbers, sea grass and conch to come on stream soon.
From their main operation base in Portland, as well as satellite sites in St Mary and St Ann, Kee Farms has been showing fisherfolk a new way of earning a living from the sea, which has been a traditional source of food over the years.
According to Kee, they have been able to persuade divers to desist from the dangerous practice of diving freestyle – usually alone and with little protection – to try their way of doing things.
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“What we are doing is culturing the sea moss; pulling the strands of sea moss apart so that we can grow them out into the open water. So we set them up in rafts and other apparatus and after about six to eight weeks they come to maturity and we can just remove it from the ocean, dry it and prepare it for processing,” Kee shared.
Interest trending up
While the take-up was initially slow, interest is picking up and the company has ventured into training fisherfolk to set up their own operations.
“The (traditional) fishing industry is pretty much dead and so in order to complement their livelihoods they need other sources, and ocean farming is a viable and practical option,” Kee insisted.
A major spinoff of Kee Farms’ agricultural practices is that they have a lot less deleterious impact on marine resources and actually ‘give back’ to the marine environment, as stated in their tag line: ‘Fostering livelihoods through sustainable oceanregeneration’.
Preparation is now taking place to expand their product line, as Kee explained.
“We are in the early research and development phase and … next year we should have biochar and hydro char, which are used in soil remediation and are much better than fertiliser,” he said.
christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com
