Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), Sharonmae Shirley, says the organisation is targeting the accreditation of 50 inspection bodies for 2019. Speaking with JIS News, Mrs. Shirley said they are aiming to get the standards of local and regional inspection bodies aligned with international standards. “Inspection body accreditation means allowing a third party (JANAAC) to come...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, says farmers, particularly those in St. Elizabeth and Manchester, have been resilient in their efforts to sustain Jamaica’s food security, despite challenges, including drought. He was speaking at the official launch of the Essex Valley Agriculture Project in St. Elizabeth, on January 16, at the Lititz Primary School, in the...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has heightened the call for more Jamaicans “from all walks of life” to venture into agriculture, emphasising that the sector is an important contributor to the growth of the Jamaican economy. “We should never limit agriculture, because the moment that we limit agriculture to being merely a manual and domestic endeavour, then we...

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is encouraging farmers in sections of St. Elizabeth to employ beet army worm management strategies to counter the increase in the pest’s population. The beet army worm affects crops such as scallion and onion, and typically impacts the southern region of the island. The Rural Agriculture Development Authority (RADA) says its latest...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the report on the rationalisation of sugar lands has been completed. The rationalisation initiative will see some sugar-cane lands being utilised for the growing of other crops, providing new investment opportunities for farmers. Minister Shaw said he has already received hundreds of applications for the production of mango orchards,...

Five small farmers have benefited from micro grants from the Jamaica Diaspora Agriculture Taskforce (JDAT) Investor Circle, which will go towards improving and expanding their operations. They are Mazie Bent from St. Elizabeth, Nicolette Smith-Francis from Clarendon, Clive Pullen from Clarendon, Lorna Fong from Manchester, and Patricia Parchment from Westmoreland. The recipients, who are involved in subsectors such as chicken,...

The second annual Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival will be launched at a press conference on January 15. The three-day event, which showcases the rich tradition of coffee production in the Blue Mountain region, was launched last year and featured Blue Mountain coffee, coffee-related products, food stalls, tastings, demonstrations and workshops. Held at Newcastle in St. Andrew in late March,...