Government Takes Steps to Unlock Potential of Goat Farming and Aquaculture

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Government is taking strategic steps to unlock the potential of both goat farming and aquaculture, two subsectors with strong local and international demand.

“We are already importing about 70 per cent of what we consume in goat meat. It is a billion-dollar industry, and that is why the Government has removed the taxes from bringing in breeding goats,” the Minister said.

He was addressing the inaugural Jamaica Agri-Business Investment Forum (JAIF) 2025, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, in St. James, recently.

“We’ve already seen private investors bring in about 800 goats, and the Government itself has brought in about 300. And we’re not just targeting the meat sector. There is a huge industry for goat milk and goat products,” Mr. Green noted.

The Minister further pointed out that agriculture has significant untapped potential. “Agriculture has tremendous potential now to generate wealth, and we must not be afraid to speak up about those opportunities,” he said.

Turning to Fisheries, Mr. Green announced that Jamaica is set to establish its first aquaculture agro-park.

“We continue to see tremendous investment in freshwater fish farming, which we believe has tremendous potential. If you know anybody who is in tilapia farming, you just ask them, they do not have enough to satisfy the market,” he said.

“The demand is so consistent that [one operator] closes one day and by the next day, he is sold out,” the Minister shared.

Mr. Green said the Government will build on this momentum with targeted infrastructure.

“Our billion-dollar tilapia hatchery can move from a one-billion-dollar industry per year to five billion. We are going to be developing a cage culture and doing all the great stuff in the sea. We are going to start with our first-ever aquaculture agro-park,” he noted.

The aquaculture agro-park will operate under the shared services model already being used in traditional agro-parks, providing critical support to investors and ensuring sustainability.