Farmers across western Jamaica, particularly in St. Elizabeth, are optimistic that the US$5-million Hounslow Animal Research facility in the parish will go a far way in improving both the quality and quantity of the nation’s small-ruminant stock. The facility, which was officially opened in 2016, offers artificial insemination and embryo transfer services to farmers who are involved in goat and...

Female farmers at the Schwallenburgh Greenhouse Cluster and Water Harvesting Project in Rio Hoe, St. Ann, say things are changing, while acknowledging that farming has long been a male-dominated profession. Speaking to JIS News, the female farmers note that of the 20 farmers that are involved in the World Bank-sponsored greenhouse project, nearly 50 per cent are women who have...

The Government has secured an agreement with operators of the Clarendon-based Monymusk Sugar Factory, Pan Caribbean, to keep it open for the 2017/2018 crop season. Making the announcement at a press briefing at the Ministry in New Kingston on September 20, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Karl Samuda, said the company will operate the factory during the...

In another two weeks, the Government will be launching a revolving loan scheme for farmers across the island for selected crops. Under the arrangement, registered farmers with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), will access the support through their local farm organisations, which will oversee the repayment of the loans. Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture...

The Plant Quarantine Division (PQD) in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce Agriculture and Fisheries is playing a key role in helping to boost trade in agricultural produce and ensuring that citizens have access to safe, quality foods. Chief Technical Director in the Ministry, Dermon Spence, said the expansion of trade in part of Government’s strategic objectives for the sector. “Our...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Daryl Vaz, is urging local farmers to be more open to using new technology to increase productivity, while protecting the environment. He cited, for example, the benefits of aquaponics, a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the...

Some 160 greenhouses have been established on mined-out bauxite lands in St. Ann, Manchester, Clarendon, and St. Elizabeth at a cost of approximately $240 million. Executive Director of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI), Parris Lyew-Ayee, said the greenhouses, which are under vegetable cultivation, are providing earnings of up to $3 million annually for the farmers. He informed that marketing arrangements...

Travellers to Jamaica are being urged to declare all agricultural products in order to avoid the introduction of foreign pests and diseases that could threaten the agriculture sector and the environment. Chief Plant Quarantine Produce Inspector, Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Sanniel Wilson, said that persons are required to declare seeds, meats, plants and animal products and by-products...

Strawberries anyone? The bright red, delicious and nutritious fruit, which is largely imported into the island, is being successfully planted by farmers in East Rural St. Andrew. The berries grown locally are said to be sweeter than the imported produce, and are in high demand by consumers. Ten farmers are engaged in cultivation of the crop under an AgriHope programme...