Gov’t Boosting Capacity in Agriculture, Tourism under REDI II

The Government of Jamaica is expending billions of dollars on initiatives to strengthen capacity in the key growth sectors of agriculture and tourism, which together account for an estimated 18 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The development falls under the second phase of the five-year Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI), which is being implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

REDI II, which started in 2019/20, is funded by the World Bank through a loan agreement with the Government of Jamaica.

It aims to bolster the benefits of agriculture and tourism, which are key sources of employment and GDP growth, by improving access to markets and making the industries more climate resilient.

Building on the experience and results of the first phase of the programme, from 2010 to 2017, REDI II focuses on strengthening the linkages between producers, service providers and buyers, to enhance the gains, particularly for small operators, from each point of the agriculture and tourism value chain or business process.

Managing Director of JSIF, Omar Sweeney, tells JIS News that an estimated $1.2 billion is to be expended under REDI II in the current fiscal year, with roughly $500 million (US$3 million) spent, to date.

The funds have provided grant support to small business operators in tourism and agriculture to enable them to improve the capacity and viability of their operations.

“The idea is to support these businesses with small grants that will enable [them] to pivot, employ more people, improve market access, things like that,” Mr. Sweeney points out.

In agriculture, grants are being provided for infrastructure upgrades, acquisition of equipment and agro-processing, cold storage and post-harvesting facilities.

“In terms of equipment, they will receive drip irrigation, water tanks, water pumps, fertilisers, support for post-harvest handling and financial literacy. So right now, we have on track at least 60 such initiatives that will expend close to US$5.3 million in small grants and infrastructure upgrades for these persons,” he elaborates.

The project also seeks to improve the infrastructure of the agriculture sector to serve farmers.

“We are investing in infrastructure related to the National Irrigation Commission (NIC); that is transmission lines to irrigate more lands. We are investing in a brand-new tilapia hatchery, we have invested in honey bottling facilities in Hanover, and we are looking now at cold storage facilities as well as other types of solar installation,” Mr. Sweeney tells JIS News.

He points out that the climate-resilient aspect of the initiative aims to ensure that the beneficiaries become more adaptive and resilient to climate change issues.

“It’s not a matter of just giving the infrastructure, it’s also giving the training for them to have the ability to operate, maintain, develop and sustain their own systems. So, every investment that we have is interlaced with these types of technology because really, it is the only sustainable way to go right now.

“We certainly have seen the vulnerability of our farmers because of drought and the lack of access to water,” Mr. Sweeney points out.

Turning to the tourism component, the JSIF Head notes that small enterprises, in particular community tourism businesses, are benefiting from REDI II.

“In our call for proposal, they would also be receiving training and upgrades to their tourism enterprises to make them more sustainable and have greater access to market, because what we are trying to do is to be aligned with the Ministry of Tourism’s community-based tourism policy,” he says.

“Marketing is a big thing – being able to build their capacity in the area, giving them access to social media portals as well as the infrastructure upgrades. We are looking at coral reef rehabilitation, fish sanctuary management, other infrastructure upgrades around ecotourism [to be] financed under the REDI II,” Mr. Sweeney tells JIS News.

The REDI II programme has also resulted in diversified tourism offerings allowing for expenditure and earnings within rural communities.

Mr. Sweeney notes that REDI II continues to benefit thousands of Jamaicans islandwide since its implementation in 2019/20.

“The programme certainly has landed and found it roots since inception,” he says, noting that the number of beneficiaries continues to grow exponentially.

He tells JIS News that through the initiative, many persons were assisted to rebound from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We found, for instance, that the coffee farmers up in the hills… with them losing sales, they were not able to reinvest in new coffee trees, new coffee plants, [and] fertiliser.

“[Additionally] there was a lot of uncertainty about the market, especially with respect to the strong connection that it has with tourism, and so being able to provide them those inputs [to] improve their capacity and adjust to the new normal is something that they benefited from,” Mr. Sweeney says.

The JSIF Head says the Fund is satisfied with the response of the participants, to date.

“I think persons had a lot of anxiety with respect to what was going to come out on the other side of COVID but now that we are starting to roll things out and with our fiscal space allocation for this year, there is great anticipation as these projects start to hit the ground, so we are very happy about their response, to date,” he states.

He explains that the pandemic had a major impact on the rollout of the project, “but coming out of the pandemic and the support that we were able to provide during COVID, we have been able to really develop and engage… more than 3,000 targeted beneficiaries. We also have plans well under way, including some in implementation, that should see this project being a tremendous success”.

Among the raft of benefits of the programme to participating Jamaicans are enhanced agriculture and tourism linkages; optimised rural agriculture production; enhanced business mentorship and coaching; improved marketing of community tourism enterprises; improved standards and quality of outputs; increased efficiency, through the introduction of technology and innovation; and increased employment, specifically targeting the youth.

The JSIF Managing Director tells JIS News that the programme’s activities are originally slated to end in September 2025 but notes that that timeline may be revised.

“Right now, what we are doing is looking at some variables to see if we would be able to complete or if the beneficiaries would be able to absorb all the intervention in that timeline. So, there may be an extension to that timeline that we are currently discussing with our stakeholders, but the programmed activities are really scheduled to end in September 2025,” he says.