Gov’t to Equip New and Renovated Cold Storage Facilities with Renewable Energy Capability

All cold-storage facilities to be built or renovated by the Government to extend the shelf life of agricultural produce will be operated using renewable energy, says Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green.

He provided the update during the 20th Jamaica Stock Exchange Investments and Capital Markets Conference, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston recently.

Mr. Green said the Government is investing $1 billion to build out cold storage facilities and encouraged private-sector entities to partner with the Administration to operationalise them.

“We have tried storage before but energy cost has been the big challenge. So, this time all our storage, including those that we are retrofitting in Coleyville – a new modular container-based [facility] – all of them will be run by renewable energy so that we can bring down the cost to store agricultural produce,” he stated.

“[However], I still need to see a partner, after we put in this investment, to work with us to operationalise these cold storages – not necessarily that the Government will run these cold storages but they have to be run in a way that the farmers benefit,” the Minister added.

Mr. Green said buildout of the facilities will address the glut and, sometimes, shortages in the market that contribute to price fluctuations.

“Unfortunately, like the rest of the Caribbean, we plant in seasons and we go through gluts, where the prices are significantly depressed and the farmers complain that they can’t get any return on their investments. Then we go through shortage where the prices are significantly escalated and the consumers complain that the price is too high,” he pointed out.

The Minister maintained that “the way to treat with that is to ensure… we extend the shelf life of our agricultural produce so that we can have it right through the year”.

“So, we’re going to be doing some significant investments around Kirkvine/Colleyville [in Manchester],” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Green said the Government will be spending $6 billion over the next six years on agricultural research, commencing this financial year.

“We want to build back Bodles for that Centre of Excellence for the Caribbean and for the world in tropical research. We want to build our research stations into centres of excellence around specific [areas],” he indicated.

These, the Minister pointed out, include small ruminants, ginger and turmeric, strawberries and fruit trees.

“We are developing a seed technology centre to ensure that we have the germplasm that we need to drive the next generation of agriculture,” Mr. Green further disclosed.