Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Government is focused on protecting the agriculture sector against the devastating effects of natural disasters. He noted that agriculture is a key growth industry, and damage to the sector due to heavy rains and flooding resulted in slow gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2017/2018. “Agriculture is so important to our...

Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Courtney Cole, is calling on farmers and agricultural investors to engage in more climate change mitigation plans, in an effort to protect their investments. Mr. Cole said due to climate change, Jamaica has been experiencing inconsistent weather patterns, which have affected crops across the island in the last 12 months,...

Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Courtney Cole, is calling on Jamaicans to change the culture of identifying agriculture as a vocation, to a primary source of income for the growth of the society. Speaking at the Agricultural Information Forum hosted by Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew on...

Chairman of the Tourism Linkages Council, Adam Stewart, is calling on hoteliers and other tourism interests, to invest in the local agriculture sector, noting that this is a sure-fire way of enhancing the country’s economic development. He notes that “for too long, we have been ignoring the obvious linkage between two of Jamaica’s most important sectors – agriculture and tourism...

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is investing in irrigation and drought management systems in Jamaica in order for the country to respond to the unpredictable rainfall patterns, as a result of the impact of climate change. The Water for Agriculture project is one activity that the FAO is pushing to mitigate drought caused by global warming. In an interview...

Apiculture is big business for 49-year-old Roan Saunders of Beeston Spring in Westmoreland. He started out in the industry eight years ago with one colony of feral (wild) bees, which had taken up residence near his woodwork shop. Since then, the number of colonies has grown to more than 200. Being a woodworker, Mr. Saunders also grasped the opportunity to...

The National Quality Policy (NQP) 2017, which articulates the Government’s position on the quality of goods and services produced and consumed in Jamaica, was presented to critical stakeholders during a workshop at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel recently. The session, staged by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, through its entity, the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC),...