Farmers Get Assistance to Improve Production and Marketing Opportunities

Twenty farmers from Seven Rivers in St. James are benefitting from a $3 million project, which is aimed at strengthening production standards and post-harvesting techniques and improving marketing opportunities.
The project is being implemented as a pilot by the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), through funding by the United Kingdom-based humanitarian organisation, OxFam.
President of the JAS, Senator Norman Grant, speaking at the launching ceremony for the Montpelier Agricultural and Industrial Show in Montego Bay Wednesday March 25, said that some 100 farmers were surveyed for the project and 20 from the Seven Rivers Association of Branch Societies were selected.
He informed that the objective is to “connect those farmers, with the assistance of the JAS and RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority), with the hotels, so that everything that they produce is produced within a framework and a quality standard that meets the demand and requirements of the hotels, and every single pound of produce will be purchased by the hotels”.
He said that the project will run for six months and “already, we are speaking about funding for other areas, funding for other groups, and once this project is successful, it will give us the ability to access even larger lines of funding that will be able to help to create the capacity that we need in Jamaica’s agriculture.”
Project Officer for OxFam, Cleve Scott, explained that “what we are doing is that we have been collecting information about small farmers in Montego Bay, particularly farmers, who have been selling fruits and vegetables to the hotels”.
“We are working with them to improve the system, looking at the challenges that they have and how we can assist them to improve the quality of their produce and the consistency of their supplies,” he told JIS News.
He said that the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) is providing support in the initiative.
In the meantime, Mr. Scott informed that a model project targeted at small farmers, which was developed in St. Lucia, is being looked at for modification and introduction in Jamaica.