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Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Roger Clarke, is calling on cane farmers to significantly increase the number of hectares under production, so as to boost sugar output and increase earnings from the sector. The Minister, who was speaking at a public awareness seminar for industry stakeholders held on May 2 at the Golf View Hotel in Manchester, said the...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Roger Clarke, says banana exporters must look to tap into non-traditional overseas markets. This, he said, is critical for the country to resume export of the crop in the significant volumes it did, in earlier years. Speaking at the signing of a $20 million (€180,000) grant funding contract to benefit the sector on May...

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) parish office in Lucea, Hanover,  has received a new Mazda 4x4 pick-up truck, valued at $2.2 million,  to be used in its farming activities in the parish. Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Ian Hayles, handed over the keys to the RADA acting Parish Manager, Ransford Barnes, at a...

Jamaica’s banana industry is to benefit from a €180,000 ($20 million) grant under the European Union Banana Support Programme (EUBSP), which will be used to effect institutional strengthening within the sector. This commitment was formalised at a contract signing at the All Island Banana Growers Association’s (AIBGA) South Avenue offices in Kingston on Wednesday May 2, 2012 involving AIBGA Chairperson,...

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke, has endorsed the annual pan-jerked chicken competition, staged by the Caribbean Broilers Group of Companies, describing it as an example of the government’s emphasis on entrepreneurship and producing and eating more local foods. Speaking at the launch of the 2012 tournament on May 1 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, Mr. Clarke...

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke, has expressed satisfaction with the work of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs, in promoting agriculture among the nation’s youth. Speaking at the organisation’s National Achievement Expo at the Denbigh Agricultural Showground on April 27, Mr. Clarke said that from the quality of the displays, he is “satisfied that the 4-H Movement is on the...

State Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Ian Hayles, has suggested that farmers consider diversifying the categories of crops they cultivate, and revising the planting schedules for some, in order to address the problem of glut currently affecting the agricultural sector. Speaking at the handing over of agricultural tools, supplies and other inputs to several schools in Clarendon, at the...

State Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Ian Hayles, is warning that food imported into the island, which have been found to be unfit for human consumption, will be destroyed. Addressing a cheque presentation ceremony at the Knox College in Spalding, Clarendon, recently, Mr. Hayles voiced concern over reports that some persons are importing produce into Jamaica “that other countries...

A Motion urging the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and various stakeholders to diversify the market for Jamaican coffee and improve the quality of the product, was approved in the Senate on April 27. Senator Norman Grant who moved the Motion, said the Jamaican coffee industry has been affected over the past nine years by a series of storms related...

Jamaica is seeking to boost cocoa production to put the industry on a solid footing and capitalise on the country’s reputation of being one of eight exclusive producers of fine or flavoured cocoa. Through the €375,000  Re-engineering the Cocoa Rural Economy Through Agro-processing, Eco-Tourism and Entrepreneurship (RECREATE) project, farmers in the parishes of Portland, St. Mary, St. Catherine, St. Thomas,...

Yet another imported shipment of food, deemed unfit for consumption, has been confiscated by the Food Storage and Prevention of Infestation Division (FSPID) of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce. This time, the FSPID has seized some 22.73 metric tonnes of red kidney beans (red peas), valued at more than $2.6 million, imported from Belize by a local distributor....

The nation's farmers are again being urged to increase productivity in order to safeguard the sector's viability. This call came from Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Roger Clarke, and Director General in the Ministry, Don McGlashan, at a plant nutrition seminar held on Tuesday (April 24) at the Bodles Research Station in St. Catherine. Minister Clarke lamented the "vast acreages"...