Agriculture Ministry to Pump $5 Million into Agribusiness Pitch Competition

Impressed by the quality of the presentations in the 2025 Rural Youth Economic Empowerment Programme (RYEEP) National Agribusiness pitch competition, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Ministry plans to boost the prize package to $5 million.

There were two winners for this year’s inaugural staging, with each winner copping $1 million each.

“We launched it (the competition) last year and I said we would only do $1 million but when I went to the finals, the finals were so good that I had to give third place $250,000 and second place $500,000,” the Minister said.

“We had a tie for first place, but we didn’t split the money; we gave them $1 million each,” he added.

The Minister was addressing the St. Thomas Agricultural Show held recently at the Rudolph Elder Park in Morant Bay.

The RYEEP provides entrepreneurial training to young Jamaicans in areas such as business development and management and best practices in agriculture. It is operated through the Jamaica 4-H Clubs in partnership with the HEART Trust/NSTA.

The Pitch Competition is a platform for young entrepreneurs to showcase their agribusiness ventures.

Minister Charles Jr. said that a $2.75-million prize money for the inaugural staging is “a direct input into our young people’s businesses”, reiterating that the sum will be almost doubled for the next staging of the competition.

In the meantime, Minister Green hailed the recent establishment of an Agricultural Protection Branch at the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) as a step in the right direction in the fight against praedial larceny.

He said that the branch, which will treat with reports of agricultural crimes, will be equipped with its own officers and vehicles. It will feature the praedial larceny unit, a drone unit and the agricultural wardens unit.

Minister Green also disclosed that some 100 agricultural wardens will be deployed by the end of the year.

“We are taking the fight against praedial larceny seriously. Now is a great time to invest in agriculture,” he said.