Work to enhance the resilience of the agricultural sector and coastal areas will continue during the next fiscal year, through a $235.9 million provision. This sum is set aside in the 2020/21 Estimates of Expenditure now before the House of Representatives. The project, which began in October 2012, is intended to safeguard livelihoods and food security in vulnerable communities by...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says the agro-economic zone being established at the Holland Estate in St. Elizabeth will ring in a new era for farming in Jamaica. The 2,400-acre property will comprise farms as well as grading, packaging and processing facilities, which will provide opportunities for employment. There will...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, is encouraging the nation’s youth to tap into the potential income-earning opportunities to be derived from agriculture by, among other things, establishing enterprises in the sector. Noting that the tourism industry, in particular, consumes some $40 billion worth of the local produce annually, Mr. Green...

Member of Parliament for North East Manchester, Hon. Audley Shaw, is calling for resocialisation to assist in ending domestic violence across the island. Mr. Shaw, who is also Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, was reacting to the killing of two women in the parish on February 5. In an interview with JIS News at the Jamaica 4-H Clubs...

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries has stated its commitment to safeguarding the citrus industry, which, despite the challenges of adverse weather conditions and disease, remains lucrative, with an estimated total value of approximately $5 billion to $7 billion. Interim Chief Executive Officer at the National Fisheries Authority, Courtney Cole, said that the sector is important to Jamaica’s...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, has disclosed that a group headed by business mogul, Michael Lee-Chin, is investing in a major agricultural project in St. Catherine. According to Minister Shaw, the mega farm, to be established on lands formerly occupied by Innswood Sugar Estates, will have mango and soursop orchards, cantaloupes, melons, and short- and...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, says that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is providing assistance to the Government on the national school-feeding programme. “Recently, Minister [without Portfolio, Hon. JC] Hutchinson and I met with the new FAO representative in Jamaica, who is the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture in Brazil,...