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Increasing global concern about food security has prompted local authorities to strengthen their efforts at getting Jamaicans to value the importance of cultivating varieties of food in sufficient quantities to feed the nation. Recent initiatives, including the Government's "Eat What You Grow, Grow What You Eat" campaign, which have been geared at promoting greater inclusion of staples such as breadfruit,...

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will be providing tractor service to farmers across the island. The initiative will enable farmers to access land preparation services at affordable rates. Addressing a JIS Think Tank today (May 21), Chief Executive Officer of RADA, Al Powell, noted that "traditionally for many farmers, the most sophisticated tools are machete and fork (but) with...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has called on the international community to put aside its business as usual mindset in favour of urgent, concrete action for the benefit of small island states struggling to meet their development goals. Addressing the opening of the High Level Segment of the 17th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development...

Refurbishing work on a building situated next to the site of the tissue culture ginger project in Top Alston, Clarendon, one of the four projects selected by the National Labour Day Planning Committee for special focus, is almost complete. Speaking at a JIS 'Think Tank' today (May 20), Chairman of the National Labour Day Planning Committee, Dorothea Clarke, said that...

Labour Day activities this year will include a ginger resuscitation project in Butlers Run, in the Top Alston area of Clarendon. "Small farmers in and around the area will benefit from practical demonstrations on pest eradication, as well as greenhouse and open field planting methodologies, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, RADA and the Scientific Research Council," said project...

Sixty five per cent of mined out lands in the bauxite producing areas, has been put to productive use in agricultural endeavours, Minister of Energy and Mining, Hon. James Robertson has reported. Speaking at a Town hall meeting on May 19, at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester, the Minister also revealed that less than one per cent of...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has proposed food processing as an alternative to the disabled bauxite/alumina industry as a major foreign exchange earner. "The implosion we have had with the bauxite industry is a wake up call for all of us," Mr. Shaw told Tuesday night's first in a series of Post Budget Town Hall...

The Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) is being merged with the Agricultural Support Services Productive Projects Fund Limited, as part of a restructuring exercise being undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The exercise, which started last year, is aimed at improving service provided by the various agencies of the Ministry, with particular focus on extension, research, marketing, business facilitation,...

Agriculture and the financial services sectors recorded growth during the last quarter of 2008/09 (January-March, 2009), Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wesley Hughes, has confirmed. Dr. Hughes told today's (May 18) quarterly media briefing of the PIOJ at its head office in Kingston, that agricultural output increased by 10 percent, while the financial services industry...

The Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Association (JCFA), in conjunction with International Co-operative Development Association/Volunteers in Overseas Co-operative Assistance (ACDI)/VOCA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is staging its first cocoa stakeholders consultation session on Tuesday (May 19) at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, starting at 9 a.m. The workshop, sponsored by USAID through its Protected Areas and...

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) today (May 14) launched its toll free number 1-888-429-5723, which will enable farmers to access valuable information without being concerned about the cost. Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of RADA, Alexander Powell said it is expected that the toll free line will not only help to reduce farmers' communication expenses, but will allow for quick access...

The Government is pursuing talks with overseas stakeholders, in a bid to determine the fate of the three bauxite plants whose operations have been scaled down. Activities at the plants - West Indies Alumina Company's (WINDALCO) operations in Ewarton, St. Catherine and Kirkvine, Manchester, and Alumina Partners (ALPART) in Nain, St. Elizabeth - were scaled down earlier this year by...