Agriculture Ministry Establishes Pepper Nurseries

Nine pepper nurseries have been established by the Ministry of Agriculture, as part of its initiative to help farmers meet the demand of the agro-processing trade, and for sale on the domestic market.
The seedlings to be produced are scotch bonnet and red peppers. The project is managed by the Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP), supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
On February 4, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton, accompanied by Project Director at the ASSP, Hershell Brown, and Agro Business Development Officer, Peter Edman, toured Raymond Sukarloo’s farm, in Bushy Park, St. Catherine, where one of the eight nurseries is sited.
The other eight are located at Thatch Hill, in White River, St. Ann; Annotto Bay and Clermont, St. Mary; York and Sunny Hill, St. Thomas; Breadnut Valley and Ebony Park, Clarendon; and Accompong, St. Elizabeth.
In an interview with JIS News, Dr. Tufton said that approximately $10 million had been allocated by the Ministry to set up 11 pepper nurseries, including the current nine, under green house conditions, across the island. He said that each nursery would have the capacity to produce approximately 1.1 million seedlings per week.
Farmers participating in the project are required to repay the Ministry for the nursery building, over a 36-month period. This repayment can be in the form of cash or a seedling swap system, whereby the cash value for seedlings supplied to a Ministry-approved producer/farmer would be written off against the cost of the nursery.
To date, the green house nursery in St. Catherine, has produced some 60,000 high quality hot pepper seedlings, to be used to establish approximately five acres of pepper. Currently, some 40,000 seedlings are in the nursery, ready for distribution.
“We are now in a position to sell to farmers 1.1 million seedlings of either scotch bonnet or West Indian Red,” the Minister said.
He pointed out that farmers have been buying the seedlings, as it is easier for them to purchase the plants, than to set up their own nurseries.
“It has been going well. By the middle of this year, we want a situation where we do not have to import hot peppers for either primary consumption or for agro-processing,” Dr. Tufton said.