The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ ‘Grow Smart, Eat Smart’ Campaign aims to boost agricultural production, while increasing the supply of nutritious and affordable foods to improve the population’s health. Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., said the strategy will “help us to produce a healthy and constructive nation; a nation that will be able to be more productive in...

Farmers of the Needham Pen Farmers Association in St. Thomas are now more equipped to operate their farms as viable businesses, after receiving key knowledge and training in this regard. Under a partnership between the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and Commonwealth of Learning, 24 farmers successfully completed an eight-week ‘Farming as a Business’ training programme earlier this year. Twenty...

Cattle farmers in sections of Clarendon are to receive free tagging of animals, as part of a direct intervention by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to combat praedial larceny. In a statement on Thursday (September 15), Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., decried the recent increase in reports of larceny of cattle in the Kensington/Alexandria area of the parish....

Farmers in the constituency of St. Elizabeth North West are preparing to embark on a major castor bean project. Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, informed that the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) is in the process of establishing a project, aimed at using mined out bauxite lands to plant castor beans and intercrop these with cash...

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., is highlighting the value of partnerships to the effective implementation of the ‘Grow Smart, Eat Smart’ national campaign. The initiative, which aims to strengthen Jamaica’s food security, focuses on building a resilient and sustainable agriculture sector. Speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, Minister Charles said the campaign’s key areas include crop...

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will be improving its extension services to farmers, as part of efforts to supply them with the critical support they need to thrive. “We are committed to providing this high level of extension service and to ensure that we bolster and improve our communication [with] the farmers,” said the agency’s Acting Chief Executive Officer,...

The agricultural sector has met 40 per cent of the national demand for onions, surpassing the original target of 20 per cent. This means the production efforts resulted in farmers and suppliers producing roughly 4,000 tonnes of the demand of 10,000 tonnes last year. The sector was also able to meet 70 per cent of the national demand for potatoes,...