$132 Million Spent to Rehabilitate Coffee Sector

Acting Director General of the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), Wayne Hunter, says $132 million has been spent on the rehabilitation of the coffee sector.

The support follows the impact of Hurricane Melissa on the sector and features the provision of seedlings and agricultural inputs.

Speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, Mr. Hunter said the spend was made through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.

“Now, that is a huge sum, and within that sum, the purchase of seedlings as well as the purchase of other agricultural inputs, such as fertilisers and varying chemicals. The bulk of our support goes to the Blue Mountain region, St. Thomas, Portland, as well as St. Andrew,” he said.

“We also have another 4,800 farmers within the high mountain region… we also were able to rehabilitate a number of those farms in those areas as well. So, production in the coffee area is rebounding and I can safely say that is good for our farmers and the industry overall,” he continued.

For the coffee-producing period, which runs from July to August, the projection for 2025 was 127,000 boxes of coffee; however, at the end of the year, 145,000 boxes of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee were produced.

Meanwhile, JACRA has strengthened its quality assurance procedures with two certified Q graders now on staff.

A Q Grader is a licensed professional certified by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) to objectively grade and score Arabica coffee based on specialty standards.

JACRA sets the quality standards, provides quality assurance and certification services, and governs the trading in the coffee, cocoa, coconut, turmeric, ginger, as well as pimento industries in Jamaica.

Mr. Hunter said that with the consistent need for the maintenance and the preservation of quality, having team members is critical.

“Quality assurance is what Jamaica prides itself on, especially since we are trademarked. We own the trademark of the Jamaica Blue Mountain and the Jamaica High Mountain. So, in the preservation and maintenance of quality, JACRA continues to invest there, where today we are proud to announce that we have two certified Q graders that test our coffees along with others before they are exported,” he said.

The Q Graders were trained and tested locally and internationally and are vital to the future of Jamaica’s Coffee quality assurance.