Agro-Invest Woos Diaspora Investment in Agriculture

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Agro-Investment Corporation (Agro-Invest), Vivion Scully, is encouraging Jamaicans in the diaspora to tap into investment opportunities within the nation’s agricultural sector.

Citing Jamaica’s annual food import bill of approximately US $1.6 billion, Mr. Scully said that the earning potential exceeds that amount, given the 3 million consumers locally, the 3 million visitors to the island annually and the over 3 million people in the diaspora who are supportive of Jamaican branded products.

“So, this opportunity for agriculture is more in the region of US $3 billion to $5 billion when you add it all up,” the Agro-Invest CEO said, during a virtual meeting with members of the diaspora on Wednesday (April 8).

He noted that despite the significant damage caused by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025, the agriculture sector is doing well.

“The farming community has rebounded significantly, so much that we are in oversupply of so many items…we have to be hosting farmers’ markets all across the country to make these products available. So, the opportunity around agriculture is pretty significant,” Mr. Scully pointed out.

He noted, however, that there are challenges with spoilage, fragmented production and weak processing capacity, which present opportunities for investment.

“A lot of the food is lost in spoilage because we are not converting enough into secondary products. We have cold chain gaps so, somebody in Westmoreland can’t get products to the other side of the island,” he pointed out.

Mr. Scully informed that the Government has given approval for Agro-Invest to establish six to eight solar-powered cold chain centres across the country to support the agricultural sector.

He said that as the facilities are rolled out, the agency will be presenting these opportunities as investment profiles for investors to sign up.

“We’ve been doing that through the deal book, which was launched at the Agri-Investment Forum last year… it has over 30 different agricultural projects that can be facilitated through the Agro-Invest Corporation,” Mr. Scully said.

He noted that prospective investors can access the deal book online at agroinvest.gov.jm.

Mr. Scully said that there is also land available for those interested in farming, as the Government continues to invest in new agro parks.

“We have been expanding the lands that we have under management. We are now up to 12,000 acres, and we are seeking to grow that to 20,000 over the next three to five years in order to create more opportunity for structured agricultural growth,” he told the overseas nationals.

“The St. Catherine ones and the Clarendon ones are fully subscribed at the moment, but we are rolling out in St. Ann, a 600-acre park there in Lydford. We are rolling out in St. Mary, a production zone of 1,000 acres and we are in discussion with one of our sister agencies to acquire 650 acres in Montpelier in St. James,” he outlined.