Gov't seeks US$15-m agri boost from IDB
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Jamaica Observer
THE Ministry of Agriculture is seeking US$15 million ($1.3 billion) financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to fund its agricultural competitiveness programme.
According to the IDB's website, the project is in the pipeline for consideration this year and will be aimed at financing "priority lines of actions established under the sector plan for agriculture, which is part of the Vision 2030 Jamaica -- National Development Plan".
"It includes three components," said the project information, "implementation of a system to support market development that will facilitate farmer's access to competitive value chains and to national and international markets; implementation of a quality management system to consolidate the strengthening process of food safety, animal health and plant health systems; and promoting investments in competitive, sustainable enterprises through the Agro Investment Corporation (AIC)."
The development plan projects that demand and growth for agriculture products in Jamaica will average two per cent annually for the next 30 years in line with global projections and which will place agricultural production above 1996 levels by 2030.
Crop production in 2009 ended the year above 2003 levels, according to agricultural minister Christopher Tufton.
"We have seen for the year, some 490,000 tonnes of food being produced and this volume of food is similar to what was produced in 2003," he said. "What this is saying to me is that the sector has rebounded from the impact of the series of hurricanes that we have had from 2004 to about 2006."
Preliminary figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, released yesterday, show that the agricultural sector continued expanding in the last quarter of 2009, ending the period with an overall 23.1 per cent increase in production over the similar period in 2008, while GDP growth for the sector was estimated at 20.5 per cent during the quarter.
"Last quarter's production growth included a 33.5 per cent increase in domestic crop production over the similar period in 2008, the sixth consecutive quarter of growth in the sub-sector," said the ministry's release. "This growth contributed to the overall 22.4 per cent increase in domestic crop production for the year."
Even though, domestic crop production increased significantly in the quarter, there was mixed performance in the traditional crops group, with cocoa recording a 46.5 per cent increase over the similar quarter in 2008 and coffee declining by 40 per cent as a result of drought during the critical fruit set period.
