Agri ministry ramps up support for vegetable farmers ahead of Christmas season
Tamoy Ashman / Our Today
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining Floyd Green says the Government is providing support for vegetable farmers who experienced tremendous challenges due to harsh weather conditions to boost vegetable production for the Christmas season.
Green, who was speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, revealed that there was a decline in vegetable production due to high temperatures, drought, followed by a sharp transition into periods of heavy, intense rainfall, which all caused damage to produce. These conditions, he said, mainly affected vegetable farmers in eastern parishes.
“Traditionally, we’ve developed very good sustainability measures in relation to our vegetable lines. We are self-sustainable in producing vegetables, but this year, we are seeing tremendous difficulties, so we’re going to put additional support to those vegetable farmers to help them bounce back, especially as we look towards the Christmas season,” he shared.
The support will be provided for vegetable farmers through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), the ministry’s fertilisation programme, and other planned methods of support.
While the intensity of the rainfall has affected some farmers, Green shared that others have begun to successfully replant their produce, in anticipation for the Christmas season.
“Thankfully, we do have some of the most resilient farmers in the world, and I know [that] once they started to see some rainfall, a lot of them [were] already out in the field, pulling together to get the produce that we’re looking for, for the Christmas season,” he said.
The minister noted that a lot of crops, particularly vegetables, have a six-week turnaround time, so if farmers are in the fields now, Jamaicans should expect to see greater levels of production by mid-December.
A meeting is also scheduled with RADA this week to discuss other ways that the agriculture ministry can help to boost vegetable production for the Christmas season.
In the meantime, Green said his team is monitoring the weather systems and is planning accordingly.
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