Essex Valley Agricultural Development Moving Apace

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says work is “moving apace” on the Essex Valley Agricultural Development Project (EVADP), which will expand the irrigation and farm road network in sections of Manchester and St. Elizabeth.

He was speaking at Thursday’s (January 11) stakeholder engagement under the New FACE of Food programme, held at the Kendal Conference Centre in Manchester.

“Between South St. Elizabeth and South Manchester, we are going to bring 800 hectares of land under irrigated water supply. The project is also going to give you at least 27 kilometres of new farm roads in that area,” he noted.

Giving an update on the progress of the works, he said that pipe laying is more than 90 per cent complete, with wells already drilled. The roads are some 30 to 40 per cent complete and the pumps and administrative building will be done next.

Minister Green said the project also involves establishing storage for excess farm produce and agro-processing, noting that the storage buildings were already under construction.

“We are doing training to ensure that our farmers will be using more modern, innovative techniques; we are doing market assessment so that we are planting what the market requires, thereby establishing linkages,” he added.

The Essex Valley project is scheduled to be completed in early 2025.

Meanwhile, the Minister told the farmers that the New FACE of Food programme is focused on food security, agro-business development, climate change and export expansion.

The objective is to build resilience in the local food system, coming out of lessons learned from the pandemic and the negative impact of extremes in drought and floods, he noted.

Minister of State in the Ministry, Hon. Franklin Witter, in his remarks, noted the resilience of the country’s farmers, despite COVID-19 and other challenges.

“That is why we want to ensure that we provide the kind of support to our farmers, so they can continue along this path of supplying not only to the local market but also to the tourism market,” he said.

Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western, Mikael Phillips, who participated in the session, said the stakeholder engagement was a good way to start the year.

He noted that agriculture is key to the country’s continued economic growth.

“The growth of Jamaica won’t come from tourism, the BPO industry or bauxite mining; real growth will come from the agriculture industry – not only production to feed the nation but also the export revenue for the country,” he said.