The Agro-Investment Corporation (AIC), an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, is establishing a Mango Agro Park in the Toll Gate area of Clarendon and is seeking investors to participate in the venture. Chief Executive Officer of the AIC, Dr. Al Powell, told JIS News that already 15 applications have been received, including from overseas interests. He said...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Ministry will be allocating resources to transform the Hounslow Research Station in St. Elizabeth into a centre of excellence for small ruminant production in western Jamaica. He noted that the facility, which is currently underutilized, “is part of a project that has already been approved by our public infrastructure committee...

 

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, on Tuesday (August 3) officially launched the $50 million National Small Ruminant Development Programme at the Hounslow Research Station in St. Elizabeth. The programme is geared towards rapidly increasing the population of primarily goat and sheep, thus increasing the local production, productivity and quality of small ruminant meat and milk. This is...

More than 200 elderly persons and shut-ins from Middle Quarters and its environs in St. Elizabeth were treated to a warm meal and care packages recently by the Middle Quarters Community Development Committee (CDC).  President of the Middle Quarters CDC, Stashauna Burnett, told JIS News that the initiative was in response to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on...

The Government is providing approximately $70 million in loan funding assistance for the island’s dairy farmers.  Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says the funds are being provided through the Jamaica Dairy Development Board’s (JDDB) Dairy Concessionary Loan Programme.  “Through this financial scheme, farmers can improve the quality of [their livestock and] increase [their] herd numbers,” Mr. Green said.  He was speaking during a ceremony for the hand-over of silage to the St. Elizabeth Dairy Development Co-operative, on Friday (July 23), at...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, is encouraging farmers to utilise more climate-smart technology and practices in order to minimise crop loss from more frequent and extreme weather events.   He said that as a small island developing state, Jamaica is very susceptible to the effects of climate change.   “We have seen it; no one has to convince us in agriculture about the realities of the longer dry periods, shorter and more intense rainy periods...