The Government has relaunched the National School Garden Programme to boost the provision of breakfast in educational institutions across the island and demonstrate the importance of agriculture to students. Under the programme, the schools will be provided with seeds, fertiliser, agricultural tools and irrigation systems. “We also want to teach the young students that agriculture is good, it is important,...

Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, says the Fisheries Management and Development Fund is “quite healthy”, and at the end of the conch season, it is likely to be close to $64 million. Speaking in the Senate on October 21, Mrs. Johnson Smith said the amount in the Fund should help to ensure the “sustainability...

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is advising farmers affected by the Frosty Pod Rot disease to exercise vigilance when disposing of cocoa pods. Identifier and Entomologist at the Plant Quarantine Produce Inspection Branch, Karen Christie, told JIS News that the Ministry has provided a step-by-step guide for farmers to follow. They were advised to remove all pods,...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says work is to get under way early 2017 on the construction of an agro-economic zone in Annotto Bay, St. Mary. He said the facility, among others to be established across the island, will provide a guaranteed market for agricultural produce. “We are looking at...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Agriculture, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says agricultural production recorded tremendous growth over the last two quarters. “The quarter up to June, we had an increase over last year of 13.5 per cent. I understand that the figure coming out for the end of September is about 13.9 per cent over last...

The Government is aiming to significantly boost local milk production from the current level of 13 million litres annually to 20 million litres by 2020, says Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Karl Samuda. In a speech delivered by Director General in the Ministry, Vivian Brown, at the Seprod Foundation Scholarship Awards Ceremony in Kingston on October 20,...

The Government has established a collaborative project from a US$17-million Adaptation Fund, to enable farmers and other groups working in tourism to lessen the impacts of climate change. Through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, the five-year programme, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), will provide for capacity-building of key...