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Some $30 million will be spent this year to refurbish two soil labs at the Bodles Research Station, St. Catherine, and the Rural Physical Planning Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which deal with soil disease testing and soil nutrients profiling, respectively. Making his contribution to the 2009/10 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives Tuesday (July 7),...

Farmer, businessman and Councillor for the Maroon Town division of the St. James Parish Council, Glendon Harris, has been elected President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS). Mr. Harris defeated his opponent, the President of the All-Island Jamaica Cane Farmers Association (AIJCA), Allan Rickards, by 210 votes to 205, in the most closely contested election for the leadership in many...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has said the Government remains committed to improving the lot of the Jamaican farmer, through continuous innovations, designed to foster the viability of the sector. Speaking at the 114th annual general meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), at the Denbigh show grounds in Clarendon on July 8, he informed that...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will be instituting a number of post-harvesting measures this year, to help farmers grow better produce and ensure that consumers get more value for their money. As a first step, a unit will be established in the Ministry to deal with the development of post-harvest infrastructure. Five wholesale market facilities will be introduced, at...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has reiterated his call for more young persons to consider agriculture as a viable career option. Dr.Tufton noted that the average age of the Jamaican farmer is 50 but, while the country has the greatest respect for experienced farmers, the future of farming must rest with a younger generation taking over....

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, wants law enforcement authorities to get tougher on praedial larcenists. He told a July 8 Post-Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House that almost $5 billion is lost each year through farm theft and stressed that the issue should be treated as priority. Dr. Tufton informed that he has already met with...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has said that he will be seeking greater collaboration with the private sector this year, particularly in setting up proper post-harvesting infrastructure. Among the areas to be focussed on are reaping, warehousing or storage, grading and sorting, value-added processing, marketing and distribution. One of the projects he pointed to is the...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has announced a number of initiatives which the Ministry will be introducing to intensify agricultural production within the island. Among the measures to be introduced is the establishment of an Agro-Investment Corporation, which is intended to package and promote medium and large scale investments in an effort to drive production in...

The Jamalco bauxite plant is reporting record production figures for the first six months of the year, with output at 3, 944 metric tonnes of alumina per day, exceeding the projected daily target of 3,650 metric tonnes. The company was also able to meet 100 per cent of its specifications for the period, and only "fell" to 99 per cent...

As part of measures to protect the country's fish stock, the Government has announced a ban on the use of mechanical guns for fishing, effective March 31, 2010. "We are not banning spear fishing, what we are saying is that we are going to embark on a programme to replace, at the cost of the Government, the mechanical spear guns...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is in the process of merging the Agricultural Development Corporation, the Agricultural Support Services and Productive Projects Fund Limited to form the Agro-Invest Corporation. "What this entity will do is address the investment strategy in agriculture," said portfolio Minister, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, in his contribution to the 2009/10 Sectoral Debate in the House...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr. Christopher Tufton is touting cassava as having made significant strides during the past year, with a number of products on the market. Making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate Tuesday (July 7), Dr. Tufton applauded some private sector entities for having taken up the challenge of producing value-added products from cassava. He singled out...