16/10/2024

Grenada

When Lauriel Williams moved to the northern point of Grenada in 1986, her eyes were set on making the area something more than the family home. Almost four decades later, Lauriel has built a thriving fruit and vegetable farm on the Caribbean Island, where she grows more than 20 different crops.  

She’s most proud of her soursop, a tropical fruit also known as guanábana. 

 “I love nature and I love farming soursop, because it is resilient,” says Lauriel.  

Over time, Williams Heritage Farm has become one of Grenada’s top producers of the delicious fruit, including for export.  

“We have an advantage in Grenada for exporting soursop,” says Lauriel.  

This lies in the fact that Grenada is the only Caribbean country authorised to export fresh soursop into the United States of America. That’s an extra incentive for Lauriel to keep improving the way she farms and increase the quality and quantity of her produce.  

Irrigation remains her biggest challenge. “On the farm we do manual irrigation, including hand-wetting, which takes hours. Sometimes we use sprinklers, but that is costly”, she explains. 

“In the dry season, we must mulch to save the soursop. It is a lot of work, but I feel elated when I see the beautiful fruits I harvest, and I have a plan in place!”   

Lauriel is now developing an irrigation and rainwater-harvesting system, with FAO’s support. It will cut down her water use and significantly reduce the time and effort spent on manual irrigation. Other skills she learned to boost her production are hand pollination, better drainage and pruning. As a result, she can now hand pollinate 500 to 800 soursop flowers per week to increase her yields.   

From each harvest, Lauriel gives a variety of produce to people in need in her community to ensure they are getting nutritious foods.  

“Not everything has a price,” she says about giving back.  

She also provides employment for young people in her community and actively shares her knowledge, skills, and good agricultural practices.  

An ethos she learned from her father, a farmer, was to always leave behind a place with more than you found there, which has helped her to make great strides on her farm.  

“I am so grateful,” she says about fulfilling her father’s wishes.  

Today, her children, Jonathan and Lauriel Junior, are involved in running the farm, too. “My hard work is a legacy for them,” she says. 

This story was written before Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Grenada in July 2024 and affected many soursop farmers. FAO is currently assisting with disaster needs assessments and is mobilizing resources to support emergency response. An FAO Emergency Coordinator has recently been recruited to assist with response and early recovery activities.