The Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) is calling on local farmers to bolster the nation’s agro-processing sector by increasing the supply of hot peppers to manufacturers. This appeal follows the successful training of 72 hot pepper farmers from the parishes of St Ann, St Mary, St Catherine, Clarendon, and St Elizabeth under the ‘Improving Phytosanitary, Food Safety, and Market Access...

Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, is highlighting the local starch industry as a major sector for investment to boost food security and economic prosperity. He noted that the sector has significant potential for commercial activities to serve local and export markets. Investing in the cultivation of produce such as sweet potato, cassava and breadfruit can...

Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, is calling for greater collaboration with the local engineering industry to boost food security through the development of machinery and equipment to improve productivity and build resilience in the farming sector. In his address at the Jamaica Institution of Engineers’ Engineers Week Conference on Tuesday (September 17) at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel...

Coffee farmers in the Buff Bay Valley area of Portland have received fertilisers and herbicides from the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) to assist in Hurricane Beryl recovery efforts. Approximately 200 bags of herbicides and the first 150 of 220 bags of fertilisers were handed over on Wednesday (September 11) at the Church of God of Prophecy in Bangor...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is piloting a Digital Services Portfolio (DSP), which has been introduced to 42 farmers from Mile Gully in Manchester, via two workshops. The aim of the project in Mile Gully, the extension area selected for the project, is to improve the digitalisation of agricultural services in rural areas. The DSP...

Fifty-one farm roads across all parishes that were affected by Hurricane Beryl are being rehabilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, at a cost of $70 million. Speaking at a media briefing at the Ministry’s Hope Gardens offices recently, portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, said, “We do know that Hurricane Beryl caused damage to a number of farm...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Franklin Witter (centre), examines a package of coconut flour that was on display at the Coconut Industry Board (CIB) complex in Kingston on Saturday (August 31). The occasion was an event in celebration of World Coconut Day. With him (from left) are Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute...