Agriculture Minister Calls for Greater Collaboration with Engineers to Boost Food Security

Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, is calling for greater collaboration with the local engineering industry to boost food security through the development of machinery and equipment to improve productivity and build resilience in the farming sector.

In his address at the Jamaica Institution of Engineers’ Engineers Week Conference on Tuesday (September 17) at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, Minister Green said engineers are crucial to the agriculture sector’s adaptation to extreme and increasing weather events caused by climate change.

“As we can all appreciate, agriculture and engineering go hand in hand… . Now is the time for all our engineers, especially our engineering associations, to pay more attention in helping us here in Jamaica to transform from our traditional primary production in agriculture to processes that can optimise our efficiency and productivity,” he said.

Minister Green said the technical expertise of the engineering industry is vital in terms of designing, developing and providing the necessary equipment and facilities to address challenges posed by climate change.

He cited, for example, the development of the Essex Valley Irrigation Scheme, which will bring irrigated water supply to 1,200 hectares of arable land in south St. Elizabeth and south Manchester, through construction of wells and associated infrastructure.

There is also the Southern Plains Agricultural Development Project, which includes construction of wells, a canal network and the development of associated agricultural infrastructure to serve the arable areas of Amity Hall and Bridge Pen in St. Catherine and Parnassus in Clarendon.

Pointing to the passage of Hurricane Beryl, the Minister said the devastation to agriculture caused by the weather event is a stark reminder of the urgent need for innovation in local farming practices.

“We lost 688,000 square feet of greenhouses, 236 greenhouses were completely destroyed affecting 224 farmers and costing the country about $856 million. Most of those greenhouses were lost in St. Elizabeth, Clarendon and Manchester,” he pointed out.

“We are going to have bigger stronger storms… . We need to develop a new design for our greenhouses, which have become the backbone of our agricultural system, because of their ability to provide food throughout any weather event. I believe these are all problems where the solutions lie in engineering,” he said.

Noting that several fish pots were also lost during the storm, Minister Green urged the engineers to work with fisherfolk to design traps that can withstand harsh weather conditions and encourage sustainable fishing practices.