Agriculture and community tourism enterprises are to benefit from capacity-building exercises and the provision of seedlings and chemicals under the Rural Economic Development Initiative II, in the new fiscal year. An allotment of $677.45 million has been provided in the 2022/23 Estimates of Expenditure to facilitate these and other interventions under the project, which seeks to enhance access to markets...

Dairy Farmers are set to benefit from the installation of a brand new milking system and improved Dairy Parlour at the Bodles Research Station. Commissioned into use in September 2021, the new milking system has been paired with a new barn to house dairy animals in between milking. Speaking in an interview with JIS News, Acting Principal Research Director for...

Ginger farmers are to benefit from the newly renovated hardening facility at the Bodles Research Station, in St. Catherine, which is expected to help increase production. Weaning and hardening is important for plant propagation, where plantlets are taken from the controlled laboratory environment in tissue culture, for gradual introduction to the outdoors. This requires a protected agricultural structure that prevents...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (MOAF) Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., says the Government is committed to achieving food security on the island. “Our goal is to ensure that we can achieve the ultimate goal of food security, meeting our local production demand and getting to the point where we can be able to support the expanding hotel industry, as well...

A sum of $253.5 million is being provided by the Government to continue work on enhancing the resilience of Jamaica’s agricultural sector and coastal areas in the new financial year beginning April 1. The provision is set aside in the 2022/23 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The project is intended to protect livelihoods and safeguard food...

The region’s capacity to protect crop production has been strengthened following the establishment of a new seed facility at the Bodles Research Station in Old Harbour, St. Catherine. Funded by the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), the new seed facility will facilitate storage of seeds in good physical and physiological condition from the time they are harvested until the...

More than $2.6 billion has been set aside to continue the Essex Valley Irrigation Infrastructure Development Programme. Details of the provision are contained in the 2022/2023 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The programme aims to assist in achieving food security and modernisation of the agricultural sector by increasing the area under formal irrigation in St. Elizabeth...