Agriculture Ministry Officials to Meet Regularly with Farmers to Evaluate Recovery Efforts

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says that Ministry officials will continue to meet regularly with farmers and other stakeholders to evaluate hurricane recovery efforts.

The Minister, who was speaking to farmers and fisherfolk following a tour of sections of St. Ann North Western on October 2, said that the visits to various farmsteads and fishing beaches will allow the Minister to gain first-hand insights into the challenges being faced and how best to address them.

Mr. Green emphasised the significance of understanding the real challenges on the ground, noting that “we want to hear from them and assess how our programmes are reaching out to farmers and fishers. We also want to ensure that people are receiving the support we have committed to them”.

The Minister’s tour covered a wide range of communities in St. Ann North Western, where he identified key issues affecting the agricultural sector, including the impact of climate change and water access challenges faced by farmers.

“Clearly, climate change remains a pressing concern, and we must address the challenges it poses to our agricultural practices,” Mr. Green added.

He said that the visit reflects the Government’s commitment to supporting recovery and resilience within the farming and fishing communities in the wake of natural disasters.

The Minister explained that the focus remains ensuring effective support and sustainable development for Jamaica’s agricultural and fisheries sectors.

“Again, looking at some of the main issues on the farming side, clearly climate change and challenges faced with climate change and the access to water continue to be challenges for some of our farmers,” Mr. Green said.

“So, we identified some areas. We are going to focus on the retention [ponds], so that when the rain comes, they can have that water to utilise. We also saw some farm road issues, but thankfully, we have seen areas where farm roads have been done. We want to accelerate the pace of our farm road programme,” he said.

In the meantime, Mr. Green noted that in relation to fishing beaches, the Ministry was able to continue the assistance since Hurricane Beryl in July, so that fishers can “go out there with their cash vouchers, get wire and go back out onto the seas”.

“But importantly, we were able to look at some of our fishers who have participated in our training programmes… to get an update from them in relation to how they are doing. Is the training working, are they catching different species, bigger fish? Are they still going out? And I was very happy to see that they are going out, not only doing the long-line fishing but they’re doing sea-box farming, and they’re doing very well at it,” the Minister added.