Ministry Looking To Hire Agricultural Aides To Assist Farmers

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is looking to strengthen the extension services provided by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) through the introduction of agricultural aides.

Minister of State in the Ministry, Hon. Floyd Green, said that the agricultural aides, who will be adequately trained, will work with farmers in communities in order to raise the country’s production levels.

“One of the things that we are looking at now is to see if we can introduce a system… where we use young people to work with our extension officers, especially in our heavily populated farming zones,” he noted.

“The reality is we need more officers in the field to engage with our farmers to ensure that they are using cutting-edge technology and that they are getting the most efficiency from the plots that they produce,” Mr. Green said.

He was speaking at the Eat Jamaican Day exposition on the lawns of Devon House in St. Andrew on Monday (November 25).

Meanwhile, the State Minister informed that the production volumes of Irish potato and onion have increased by more than 20 per cent.

“We have been focusing a lot of our [Agricultural Productivity Incentive Programme] on raising the production of crops that we know we can have full production of, and we have seen tremendous success,” he said.

Mr. Green urged Jamaicans to consume and utilise more Jamaican produce and products in order to grow the economy and build the country.

“We want to ensure that there is a seismic cultural shift, so that when we go into our stores, the first thing we are looking for is to ensure that whatever we are buying is from Jamaica, made in Jamaica,” he said.

The Eat Jamaican campaign, now in its 16th year, is organised by the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), RADA and the Ministry under the theme ‘Grow What We Eat, Eat What We Grow’.