Gov’t Accelerating Sugar Lands Reallocation for Alternative Agricultural Production

The Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings (SCJH) has been tasked with accelerating the pace of reallocating lands formerly used for sugar-cane cultivation into alternative agricultural endeavours.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, made the announcement during a press briefing at the Ministry’s offices in Kingston on Wednesday (January 31).

“I must commend the SCJH, because we have seen an acceleration of that. In fact, we have now about 65,000 acres that were former sugar lands, that are now put into agriculture across different dispensations, whether it be cash crops, animal rearing, orchards, or other initiatives,” he said.

Mr. Green informed that during 2023, an additional 2,500 acres were put into different activities.

“We had 17 cash-crop allocations amounting to 614 acres, animal rearing [7.5 acres] and orchards [25 acres]. I have seen some exciting initiatives come to the fore. In fact, one of the most notable allocations last year is [that] the Sugar Company has leased, now, 500 acres which will go into castor bean production for the development of our castor oil sector,” the Minister further indicated.

He advised that a castor oil project is expected to be launched this year, pointing out that “it is a private investment”.

“But we are looking forward to transitioning from sugar in some areas into new areas which are in significant demand,” Minister Green said.