November 27 (JIS): Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, says the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) must be placed on a path to university status as part of a strategic move to further drive growth in the agriculture sector. “When you look at how Costa Rica has moved its agricultural sector forward, it’s through developing a first-class agriculture university – one of the best in the world – and using that to drive the expansion of agriculture. CASE should become a university; we have to work and get CASE on a trajectory to becoming a university, ” he said. The Minister was speaking on Friday (November 24) at the national ‘Eat Jamaican Day’ ceremony activity held on the campus of the Portland-based institution. As part of the support for the development of the institution, the Minister led the handover of $20 million to help build out the veterinary and animal sciences laboratories at CASE and to support the solarisation of farms. Currently, CASE is leading the charge in relation to the Ministry’s small ruminant development programme, and Minister Green has expressed the desire for the institution to begin offering a full veterinary sciences programme, as “we need more vets in the country”. He noted that the Ministry has been channelling various forms of support to CASE over the last few years, particularly in building out technology. A total of $24 million was provided to help in establishing a tunnel house for chicken, which the Minister opened on Friday. Some $20 million was provided to construct goat houses, and work has been done on the piggery, which was also unveiled on the day. Overall, the Minister continued his call for young people to turn to agriculture, as it continues to be a highly lucrative industry. “I want to say to the youth, choose agriculture. A lot of the times, the farmers don’t tell you but there are farmers who are making millions of dollars from agriculture,” Mr. Green said.

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