Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining makes his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives recently.
June 6, 2024 (JIS):
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining has announced a new programme to revitalise the dairy industry to meet local and international demand for milk and milk products.
Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, in his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives recently, said that under the Dairy Livestock and Innovation Nutrition Programme, solar-powered cooling systems will be introduced to dairy farmers to improve energy efficiency and reduce the cost of production.
In addition, the Ministry will be purchasing and distributing 15 new mobile milking machines across dairy farming communities.
“Importantly… we are establishing a technology centre and an equipment lease programme through the Jamaica Dairy Development Board (JDDB) [where] we will allow our small farmers to lease, at concessionary rates, milking machines, silo packers, silo press, flail harvester [and more],” Minister Green said.
Focus will also be placed on expanding local gene pool by importing and distributing cattle embryos and semen to farmers.
Additionally, the Minister said that $56 million will be spent to establish dairy farms at educational institutions across the island.
“We are partnering with our educational institutions and have already provided support over the last three years, expending some $73 million to the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), Ebony Park HEART Academy, Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Knockalva Polytechnic College and Moneague College – all towards development of their dairy programmes,” he informed.
“At the secondary level, Sydney Pagon STEM Academy, Dinthill Technical High School, Munro College and Newell High schools will all have direct support provided to rehabilitate or construct milking parlors and the associated modern equipment and animals provided to ensure efficiency,” he added.
Minister Green said the aim is to boost milk production to 30 million litres by 2030.
The dairy sector produced 10.6 million litres of milk in 2023.
Meanwhile, he said Cabinet has approved the expansion of the definition of milk to incorporate product from other animals such as goats.
“We are currently consulting with the sector to explore whether there needs to be further expansion of the definition of milk, towards an inclusion of all products to ensure that the playing field is level,” he noted.
Minister Green said the goal is to ensure that local products remain competitive despite the expansion of the number of items in the local marketplace that are classified as milk.
