Building a Better Jamaica

Friday, February 05, 2010
Jamaica Observer

AGRICULTURE Minister Christopher Tufton has credited the 23 per cent fourth quarter increase in the island's food production to what he calls "targeted interventions" and a ramping up of lands under production.

"We have not only seen improvement over corresponding quarters of the previous year but also increases in each successive quarter last year," Tufton revealed Tuesday.

The agriculture minister said that the domestic crop sub-sector recorded 33.5 per cent increase in production in the fourth quarter of 2009, and a 22.4 per cent increase for the year.

Tufton, who said that the performance represented six consecutive quarters of growth, was reporting on the year's sector performance at a press conference held at the ministry's Hope Road office in St Andrew.

Seeking to place the figures in perspective, Tufton said that food production last year reached 490,000 tonnes, equalling 2004 pre-Hurricane Ivan levels.

According to Tufton, the sector achieved this feat despite continuous drought last year when nine out of the 12 months showed less than national average rainfall.

He attributed the robust output from the sector to special initiatives taken by the ministry to attract investment and increase productivity in specific crops.

The agriculture minister said that STATIN figures show that the sector created approximately 11,000 new jobs over last year, reflecting the growth of the sector.

Tufton's targeted interventions include the Financial Access for Responsible Members (FARM) programme, which provides loans to farmers with limited collateral to grow critical crops such as onions and Irish potatoes.

Revealing that in 2008 the country imported some US$12 million worth of Irish potatoes and $4 million in onions, Tufton said that initiatives were aimed at reducing the high import levels.

"We are now supplying 20 per cent of the market for Irish potato and 10 per cent for onions," he told the Observer. "We intend to take those figures up to 50 per cent of the market for both."

Tufton argued that the increased activity in the sector has invariably led to an increase in the acreage under production but added that efforts are currently underway to identify arable lands and encourage owners to put them into production.

"While we are doing that we want to engage the agro-processing sector to develop programmes to grow required crops," he said.

In the meantime, the agriculture minister said that all parishes recorded increased production for the last quarter of 2009 with Portland, at 160.9 per cent, recording the highest growth.

St Elizabeth and Manchester continued to be the main contributors accounting for 54.2 per cent of the total food production.