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Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Roger Clarke, said that focus must be placed on value-added activities in the cocoa industry in order to move the sector forward. He was speaking at the launch of the Re-engineering the Cocoa Rural Economy through Agro-processing Eco-Tourism and Entrepreneurship Project (RECREATE) on March 20 at the Ministry’s Hope Gardens headquarters in Kingston. While...

Improving agricultural practices to get “more crop per drop” will be Jamaica’s main focus on World Water Day, which will be observed on Thursday (March 22). Based on the international theme: ‘Water and Food Security… the World is Hungry because it’s Thirsty’, the Water Resources Authority (WRA) will this year, examine a number of strategies to boost the water supply...

More than 400 farmers in the parishes of Manchester and St. Elizabeth are to benefit from a solar irrigation system being implemented by the National Irrigation Commission (NIC). Funded at a cost of US$150,000 by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), the project will see the NIC pumps in both parishes relying less on regular electricity supply....

A rainwater harvesting project, to benefit some 300 farmers in the bread basket parish of St. Elizabeth, was launched on March 15 by the National Irrigation Commission (NIC). The $4.5 million project, to be undertaken with support from the United Nations Global Environmental Facility (GEF), will involve resuscitation of a six million-gallon catchment tank located in the community of Lititz,...

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke, is again urging farmers to register with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in order to strengthen the Ministry’s efforts to curb farm theft. Mr. Clarke lamented that even as the Ministry embarks on a major anti-praedial larceny initiative, in collaboration with the police and the judiciary, “some farmers have refused to even...

Jamaica is among more than 130 countries which have benefitted from upwards of US$20 million in project grant funding from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Telefood Special Fund (TSF), since its establishment in 1997. Speaking at a recent ceremony involving one of the beneficiaries, Garvey Maceo High School in Vernamfield, Clarendon, FAO Representative to Jamaica, the Bahamas...

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke, is urging greater banana and cocoa outputs from St. Mary, one of the country’s prime regions that produces these crops. Speaking at the launch of the Ministry’s $42 million ginger and turmeric projects at the Orange River Research Station in the parish on Thursday (March 8), Mr. Clarke, in noting that St. Mary...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has embarked on two $42 million ginger and turmeric projects, aimed at, among other things, enhancing development and outputs through the cultivation of some 510 acres of the spices this year, and providing employment for just over 830 stakeholders. Addressing the project launch, at the Ministry’s Agricultural Research Station in Orange River, St. Mary,...

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Anthony Hylton, said the Ministry intends to strengthen its programmes aimed at ensuring the safety of food from production through to consumption.  “By doing this, we ensure acceptable standards for consumption in our local markets and in the countries to which we export,” the Minister stated. He was addressing a ceremony held Tuesday...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Roger Clarke, said that increasing production and consumption of local produce is a top priority of government, as it looks to reign in imports and increase economic gains. “In a developing country such as ours, and as a government, we believe… (this) must and should be the order of the day,” he said on...

Commissioner of Police, Owen Ellington, is calling on all farmers to get registered, noting that this is one of the most effective ways to ensure the success of the Agricultural Produce Receipt Book Programme. “I want to appeal to every Jamaican farmer to get registered and get your receipt books,” he implored. The Commissioner was speaking on Tuesday (February 28)...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has re-launched the Agricultural Produce Receipt Book Programme in an effort to curb the nagging problem of praedial larceny. Under the initiative, all registered farmers and vendors are required to issue a receipt, identifiable by a unique number, to anyone who purchases agricultural produce, as proof of payment.   Speaking at the re-launch held...