Minister Outlines Importance of Infrastructure Improvements to Farmers

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says that infrastructure improvements, including farm roads and irrigation, are essential for farmers to sustain production.

“We are targeting about 51 farm roads that were significantly damaged by Hurricane Melissa,” the Minister outlined, noting that the works are part of a wider response to damage caused by weather events.

The Minister, who was speaking at a handover ceremony for fertilisers at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Trelawny branch, in Hague recently, noted that the sector has been severely impacted in recent years.

“Cumulatively, all of that has caused over $70 billion in damage to our agricultural sector,” Mr. Green said, outlining that the damage followed a sequence of climate-related events.

“When I returned to the Ministry in 2023… that was the hottest year on record. That was a year of drought, significant drought,” he said, adding that this was followed by multiple storm systems, including Hurricane Beryl, Tropical Storm Raphael and Hurricane Melissa.

In response, the Government has implemented a comprehensive recovery programme to support farmers and rebuild infrastructure.

“As such, we have been rolling out a $3-billion recovery programme, which has provided support across a number of areas,” the Minister said.

Looking ahead, the Minister said long-term resilience is being prioritised through targeted investments in water management and farmer training.

“We’re going to be doing things like strengthening our irrigation systems,” Mr. Green stated.

He explained that these efforts are being supported under a major climate adaptation initiative.

“This is a programme that will provide US$40 million in grant support over the next six years,” the Minister noted, adding that the Government will provide additional funding support.

“That grant support will be matched by government with about US$10 million in support,” he said.

Mr. Green further highlighted plans to expand farmer education and demonstration initiatives.

“We’ll be working… to expand our farmer field schools to establish model plots,” he indicated.

The Minister also pointed to rising input costs as a growing concern for farmers.

“You have to import urea, nitrogen, and the price of urea has gone up over 40 per cent in the last four or five weeks,” he said.

He further outlined that fertiliser remains one of the highest production costs for farmers.

During the handover ceremony, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in partnership with the Government, distributed fertiliser along with other agricultural inputs to farmers.