Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., addresses the inaugural ‘Farming as a Business’ Conference, staged by the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM), at the University of Technology, in Kingston, on Thursday (July 7).
JIS News
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., has announced a sum of $50 million to be put towards strengthening the collaboration between local producers of organic fertilisers and the Ministry.
Speaking at the inaugural ‘Farming as a Business’ conference, staged by the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM), at the University of Technology in Kingston on July 7, Mr. Charles Jr. said the investment is to “purchase and enhance the supply of organically produced material, especially for the growing of vegetables across the island”.
He informed that through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), the Ministry will also be expanding the training programme on composting to encourage farmers to use local materials and farm waste to compost and reduce the reliance on chemical fertilisers.
“We have to adopt the practices that will allow us to relinquish this 100 per cent dependency on synthetic fertilisers and applications of pesticides, insecticides and [other] chemicals, especially at a time when the prices for these things are increasing,” the Minister said.
He noted, however, that his sentiments are not to speak against farmers who use these products, as “there is a place for everything in the structure of our sector”.
Instead, the Minister is encouraging those farmers to utilise the products properly and desist from overfertilisation.
“[This] is burning out our soil, taking its place in the wrong way and causing you to have deficiencies in your production,” the Minister said.
He highlighted that the $200-billion sector for organic food products is ripe with opportunities, once the correct methodologies are utilised.
As such, Mr. Charles Jr. said the Ministry intends to advance aggressively with the framework to develop the sector and to promote a full analysis around the best approach to ensure that all the organic opportunities in the country are tapped into.
“We consider this a real opportunity for Jamaica, for us to bolster the value of our products,” he said.
