Executive Director of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), Dr. Carey Wallace (centre), admires the display of produce at a booth mounted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining’s Research and Development Unit, at the ‘Eat Jamaican Day’ Food Festival on Friday (Nov. 22) at Devon House in Kingston. Manning the booth is Plant Breeding Officer, Rushane McDonald (left), while Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) President, Owen Dobson, looks on.
Sales of produce by local farmers through the Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) platform continue to climb, reaching $1.2 billion to date.
Executive Director of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), Dr. Carey Wallace, made the disclosure to JIS News, during the ‘Eat Jamaican Day’ food festival on Friday (Nov. 22) at Devon House in Kingston.
He said the platform has revolutionised the interaction between hoteliers and local farmers.
“It has been tremendously successful. We have over 1800 farmers registered on that platform…It is a way of making sure we have a wide net to cover every farmer in Jamaica. We want every farmer to benefit from the opportunity that tourism provides because as we grow our tourism numbers, it means that we have more mouths to feed. If we can get our farmers to supply that demand, then we would expand the value chain and get more revenue (from tourism),” he said.
Notably, he told JIS News that the long-term contracts that are in place between hoteliers and farmers create stability within the tourism ecosystem.
“I think it helps the farmers. When they have a guaranteed purchase of a certain volume of produce it is something they can invest in to make sure that they are not in a high-risk situation of planting out a whole 50 acres and not knowing where the produce is going. We believe that is a more sustainable method and we encourage that,” Dr. Wallace added.
Launched in 2017, ALEX is a collaborative project of the TEF and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to establish a bridge between sellers (farmers) and buyers (tourism stakeholders) to facilitate the exchange of goods.
It specifically targets farmers with between three and five acres of property, connecting them directly with the hotels.
