Farmers to Benefit from Major Greenhouse Project

More than 200 farmers in the parishes of Manchester, St. Elizabeth and St. Ann, are to benefit from a $200 million hi-tech farming project involving some 20 greenhouses at eight sites.

The project is being funded by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), which is donating $153 million, and $54 million from the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI). Land will be provided by the bauxite mining companies, with supporting services from JSIF’s Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI).

Speaking at Rose Hill, in Manchester, where the agreement was signed by JSIF, JBI, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), and Alpart Jamaica, on April 2, State Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Julian Robinson, said the programme, which includes water harvesting, will contribute to poverty reduction.

He told the gathering that the project is one of the single largest investments to be made in rural Jamaica for small-scale agriculture, and is significant in terms of “its potential economic and social impact.”

The State Minister informed that the green houses will be built on mined-out lands, with JBI doing the preparation of the sites to facilitate the farms. Locations of the sites are Myersville, St. Elizabeth; Watt Town, St. Ann, and Content in Manchester.

“Farmers who are involved in this programme have been provided with a rare opportunity. With the assistance provided by JSIF and the JBI, including the critical protection from drought; the training and the relevant infrastructure, you have a responsibility to ensure that you take care of your green houses, and manage your production and business transactions diligently,” the State Minister said.

Other components of the project include pesticide storage, bathroom facilities, packaging sheds, solar water pumps, irrigation systems, and seedlings for 160 farmers.

Funding from the JSIF is made possible through money allocated to the agency by the World Bank.