Gov’t Working to Increase Ratio of RADA Extension Officers

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Government is implementing a multi-pronged approach to bridge the gap in the farmer-to-extension-officer ratio.

This, as he emphasised that the Government is aware of challenges being experienced due to a less-than-ideal number of the agricultural professionals being available to provide critical services for farmers.

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) employs extension officers.

Responding to questions during a Special Press Conference at Jamaica House in Kingston on Monday (March 30), Mr. Green said the

Ministry is implementing three strategies to address the challenge.

The first involves mobilising assistant extension officers.

“We have been working on the structure of RADA, and we do have… some assistant extension officers that had not been mobilised over the last few years. So, we are now employing assistant extension officers, especially in the areas where the ratio is significantly out of skew,” Mr. Green disclosed.

The Agriculture Minister said the second strategy will involve making a request to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service for more extension officers.

“We do hope that will find favour with the Ministry, because we do need some more boots on the ground,” he stated.

Mr. Green noted that the third intervention is to expand the use of technology to make the services of extension officers more accessible to farmers.

“We have developed a RADA mobile application, which brings extension services to your fingertips. So, our farmers are now able… to in their field take a picture of a plant or an insect or something that they see that they cannot comprehend, send that in real time, and an extension officer can respond without having to go to the farm,” the Minister explained.

He noted that farmers can also complete tasks such as scheduling the visits of extension officers through the app.

“The mobile application has a whole host of videos to tell you how to plant… what to look out for… . It provides extension services without having the officer right there, so I think the technology will help us,” Mr. Green affirmed.

He added that RADA also uses WhatsApp groups and direct messaging to share important information and updates with farmers.