Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Hon. Floyd Green (fourth left) cuts the ribbon to officially open a section of the rehabilitated Spring Garden roadway in St. Ann on Wednesday (November 22). He is joined by (from left) Director of Engineering at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Clayton Williams; State Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Franklyn Witter; Farmer Barbara West; Member of Parliament for North West St. Ann, Krystal Lee; Farmer Jahbless Campbell Grayham; RADA Parish Manager for St. Ann, Sheldon Scott; and Works Engineer at RADA for Clarendon and St. Ann, Renrick Thompson.
November 27 (JIS):
Farmers in Spring Garden near Bamboo in St Ann, now have improved access to their fields and are now better able to transport their produce to market, following the rehabilitation of the farm road in the area.
The 350-metre stretch of roadway was upgraded at cost of $9 million and was officially opened by Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Hon. Floyd Green on Wednesday (November 22).
In his remarks Minister Green said Spring Garden is one of six areas in St. Ann to benefit under the farm road programme this financial year, with a budget of $40 million allocated for various communities, including Douglas Castle.
He said the ministry already has several road improvement projects earmarked for the next financial year in parish.
Responding to concerns raised by the farmers about the need for further improvements in Spring Garden, the Minister gave the assurance that their requests would be considered and implemented.
“I heard your concerns that you need another phase and as your Member of Parliament (MP) has said once you ask for it, you can consider it done, because we are going to ensure that you get the encouragement you need to keep on farming,” Mr. Green stated.
Highlighting the importance of addressing the infrastructural needs of farmers, the Minister stated that the farm road initiative is crucial for advancing agriculture in the country.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining appreciates that the farm road programme is critical, if we are going to move agriculture forward. If our farmers got access to property, if people cannot access farms to buy produce, then it sets agriculture back,” he said.
Against that background, he outlined that the Ministry has pushed to expand the programme to ensure that farmers across the island have reliable and well-maintained roads.
“This year we started with $610 million for farm roads, and we set about to do about forty farm roads with the resources that we were given, and we said we needed some more. As such we went to the… Minister of Finance and we got an additional $200 million in the supplemental estimates to do more farm roads,” Minister Green outlined.
For his part, MP for Northwest St. Ann, Krystal Lee said the rehabilitated section of the farm road, will help to increase farming activities in the area.
She pointed out that this is the third section of the Spring Gardens roadway to be given attention by the Government.
“The fact that we started two years ago, we got a second and a third allocation so that we can continue to improve the road networks here to make it easier for you farmers. It means they [government] will bring it [the road] to completion, so that your job becomes easier,” Ms. Lee said.
Farmer, Jahbless Campbell Grayham who spoke on behalf of the farmers expressed gratitude for the newly paved road, noting that they can now transport their produce from their farm with ease.
“Since you fix this part of the road. I do not have any problem with my stuff getting out or to go [planting]. So, I want to say thank you all on behalf of our community and the farmers,” she said.
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