Over $40 Million Earned on Alex Platform So Far This Year

The Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) portal generated earnings of $40 million for farmers during the first two months of 2025.

This was disclosed by Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, who was speaking at the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival’s Farmers’ Trade Day held at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTECH) in Kingston on Friday (February 28).

Mr. Bartlett said the strong showing for 2025 follows on the heels of a successful 2024, when the 2,000 farmers registered on the platform supplied 4.3 million kilograms of produce, valued at $452.8 million, to the tourism industry.

The Minister noted that, so far, this year, farmers have provided 81,000 kilograms of produce through the ALEX portal, setting the stage for last year’s record to be surpassed with ease.

“We are going to be well over half a billion dollars of produce before the year reaches half-way if we continue at this rate, because we’re expanding and we’re growing,” the Minister stated.

Mr. Bartlett said the tourism linkages network continues to grow, and the aim is to collaborate with registered farmers to increase their output.

“We’re looking at new innovative ways of enabling larger and higher levels of production and far more cost-effective operations for our small farmers. We continue to work with you (farmers) in the water-harvesting arrangements and to provide support in this regard,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Project Coordinator/Manager for ALEX, Candice Constantine, urged farmers to register for the platform, which was created to facilitate linkages between local farmers and buyers.

“Those buyers include some of our hotels, restaurant owners, tour operators, persons within the gastronomy market, agro-processors, supermarkets… you name it. ALEX is here to facilitate those connections,” she explained.

The project coordinator stressed that the platform is available to farmers at no cost and that agri-brokers assist with the process at every step.

She also emphasised the benefits of the platform, which include access to large-scale buyers.

“You get greater market access to multiple buyers across Jamaica. You get agri-brokers on the backend assisting you with the connections and ALEX also encourages local distribution and a reduction in importation. We want to get less losses within the agricultural sector. So, no farmer should be complaining about spoiled produce when you have ALEX here to assist you in finding buyers,” Ms. Constantine told farmers.

ALEX is the result of a joint effort between the Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture and is spearheaded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).