Sugar Cane field burning is carried out before harvesting to ensure and easier process an requires less manual labour. The field is set on fire, the leaves are burned off the stalks, removing about 80% of the “trash” including straw tops and green dry lea
Burning sugar cane fields Caymans estate Jamaica.
Mixing at the control desk on the Youthman Promotion Dancehall Sound System, Kingston Jamaica 1986.
Soundmen mixing at the desk on the Sugar Minott Youthman Promotion dancehall session on Robert Crescent, Maxfield Park, Kingston Jamaica 1986
Dancehall session at the House of Leo- Kingston, Jamaica. 1994.
Packed crowd at the House of Leo Stone Love dancehall session, on Cargill avenue. Kingston, Jamaica 1994.
Beres at the mix with Sugar Minott recording in Angel Islington, London,1986.
Beres at the mixing desk with Sugar Minott recording in Angel Islington, London,1986.
Dancehall deejay Tenor Saw on the mic, Kingston Jamaica, April 1986.
Jamaican Dancehall singer and deejay on the mic, at Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion sound system Kingston Jamaica 1986.
Youth Man Promotion Sound System, Kingston Jamaica 1986.
Pleasure Minott wearing a bowler hat (Brother of Sugar Minott) with members of the Youth Promotion Sound System Crew, Robert Crescent, Maxfield Park, Kingston, Jamaica 1986.
The late singer and deejay Tenor Saw (died in1988) on the Mic. Youthman Promotion Sound System. Kingston, Jamaica. 1986.
The late dancehall singer and deejay Tenor Saw (died in1988) seen here on the mic at the Youthman Promotion Sound System, at Robert Crescent, Maxfield Park, Kingston Jamaica, 1986.
Gong, Central Village, St Catherine Jamaica, August 1988.
'Gong' ran a sound system called 'Black Ruler'. Gong lived in Central Village, a sprawling settlement on the outskirts of Spanish Town, St Catherine in Jamaica. There were often shoot-outs in Central village - I myself was caught-up in the middle of a shooting only a few days after this photo was taken. ‘Gong’ was shot and killed about a year after this photo was taken. August 1988.
Youth Promotion Sound System crew Handsworth Birmingham 1986.
Youth Promotion sound crew, Handsworth Birmingham UK, 1986.
Burning sugar cane fields Jamaica. 2003.
Caymanas sugar estate Jamaica. A controlled burn is carried out before harvesting the cane. less manual labor is required through using this method. It takes place during the harvest season.When sugar cane is burned to remove the outer leaves around the stalks before harvesting, thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants are released into the air. An alternative to this method is the so called ‘Green Harvest’ where by through the use of mechanical harvesting machinery, the outer leaves are removed and left on the fields to create bio-mass trash material. This method is considered very expensive and reduces profits. Others argue that leaving the trash creates a risk of uncontrolled fires in the fields. In 2003 I had the opportunity of photographing the burning and harvesting of the sugarcane on the then Government owned Caymanas Estate. Using outdated equipment and sugar largely cut by hand in the searing heat, workers make up a substantial number of voters. So successive Jamaican governments have made every effort to keep the industry going. Today, the island economy relies mostly on agriculture and tourism industries. The sugar industry is the oldest continually operating industry in Jamaica, generating the third largest foreign exchange for the island.