Agriculture Rebounding Strongly – Minister Green

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says the sector is rebounding strongly following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, with high production levels driving down prices.

Prices for vegetables at Coronation Market, the major food market in Kingston, were trending downwards, with tomatoes being sold for as low as $50 per pound.

The Minister, who was addressing the launch of the American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ) small farmers voucher programme at S Hotel in Kingston on Tuesday (February 24), said with the strong performance of the country’s farmers, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has had to revise its inflation predictions.

“If you haven’t visited the market, visit the market, because I’m here to tell you, that in almost all of our vegetable lines, we have not only seen amazing recovery but we have gone into oversupplying some of them, because farmers have done extremely well. I think we must commend and applaud and celebrate our farmers,” he said.

“Food prices have gone down because our farmers have produced so much, and because inflation declined, the BOJ just announced that interest rates are going to decline. This means that people will be able to get external capital to invest in the recovery and I suggest that the investment should be in agriculture,” he added.

Category Five Melissa caused approximately $30 billion in agricultural losses, affected more than 70,000 farmers and disrupted operations across 41,390 hectares of farmland. Additionally, approximately 1,251,410 animals, including small ruminants, poultry and cattle, were lost.

The recovery of the sector is being driven by a rapid, coordinated response from the Government, which has initiated a $3-billion recovery plan.

“The truth is, recovery is not a destination; it is a journey. So, we have gone through the first phase and we have done it fairly well, but now we have to continue because we have not yet reached 70,000 farmers,” Minister Green said.

He noted that the first phase of the recovery programme focused on vegetable crops, while the second phase will place emphasis on banana and plantain with a $100-million initiative targeting small farmers and major producers.