RADA Embarking on Projects in North West Clarendon

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will be embarking on several projects to benefit farmers in North West Clarendon, including the Moravia Ginger Project, which will cost $3 million.
Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Michael Stern, in his contribution to the 2008/09 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday (June 17), said that the European Union has pledged $800,000 to the project through the Private Sector Development Programme, while $1million will come from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
“This project will be helping the farmers to access treated plant material on an annual basis and at a cheaper price,” Mr Stern informed.
The MP, who is also the Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, also informed of new projects in the areas of bee keeping and honey production, noting that $800,000 will be allocated from the CDF to fund these initiatives.
In addition, with support from RADA, farmers will be embarking on goat, pig and poultry rearing. “This is to facilitate employment generation,” Mr. Stern said, adding that a callaloo project will also be started in Alston, Spaulding. “There is a factory that will take all the callaloo produced for juice production,” he said.
The MP also informed that the constituency will be working with RADA on a fruit tree planting project, through which crops such as lychee, ackee, and otaheti apple will be planted.
“Farmers will prepare their plots and we will provide the seedlings to assist them in expanding our capacity for fruits and to support our agro-processing potential in the long-term,” Mr. Stern told the House.
The MP also informed that the constituency is working with a new investor to have the ackee factory in Tweedside re-opened and “this will provide farmers with a destination for sale of their ackees in the Peckham/Tweedside area.”