Building a Better Jamaica

Sure Jamaica exports first shipment
BY MARK CUMMINGS Observer West senior reporter cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, February 25, 2010

Courtesy of Jamaica Observer

WAIT-A-BIT, Trelawny — THE first shipment of yellow yam weighing 40,000 pounds and valued at US$32,000 will tomorrow leave Sure Jamaica Exports Limited's packaging facility here, under a plan to ship over one million pounds of the produce to the USA and England this year.

According to Wayne Morrison, the CEO of Sure Exports Limited, his company plans to export roughly 100,000 pounds of yellow yam to the US market, as well as another 20,000 pounds to the United Kingdom on a monthly basis, during the first year of operation.

By 2015 Morrison said, the company is expected to increase yellow yam exports from the Wait-a-Bit facility to more than 7 million pounds annually.

Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who officially opened the yam-packaging facility on Monday, said the plant -- which was refurbished at a cost of $16 million -- is the first of six similar facilities planned islandwide, as part of the ministry's proposed post-harvest management infrastructure.

"This yam facility has been leased to Sure Jamaica Exports Limited, which trades in Jamaican fresh produce and processed foods in the USA, Canada and United Kingdom," Dr Tufton told the large gathering of farmers.

The facility serves as a collection point for yam produced for local and export markets in Trelawny and neighbouring areas. At the plant, the produce is collected, sorted, graded, and packaged for distribution.

Farmers are currently paid $30.50 per pound for the produce but Morrison pointed out that the price paid will be determined by the forces of demand and supply.

In an effort to ensure an uninterrupted supply, Sure Jamaica Exports Limited has entered into partnership with local farmers in the area and is assisting them with inputs so as to maintain price consistency -- thereby increasing their competitiveness.

Meanwhile, Dr Tufton told the yam farmers that the Rural Agricultural Development Authority has been mandated to train them in best agricultural practices to ensure sustainability of the project.

"There are all sorts of things that you need to do; some you are doing now, but there are going to be things that you need to do additionally. There are going to be new approaches; new diseases; there are going to be new pests that you will have to deal with," added Dr Tufton.

Last year, Telawny accounted for 50 per cent of the island's yam production, 95 per cent of which was produced in the southern section of the parish. Yam cultivation accounts for 74 per cent of the parish's domestic crop production.