Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J. C. Hutchinson (left), holds a pineapple while on a tour of the booths at the Montpelier Agricultural and Industrial Show, in St. James, on March 28. Others (from second left) are: Mayor of Montego Bay and President of the St. James branch societies of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Councillor Glendon Harris; Vice President of the JAS, Donald Berry and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Lenworth Fulton. Mr. Hutchinson was the keynote speaker at the event.
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says the provision of a constant supply of water to farmers and access to market for their produce will be given priority by the new Administration.
He is also assuring farmers that community roads will be improved and that the pressure will be increased on praedial thieves, who continue to wreak havoc on the sector.
“When you travel through some of the farming communities, it is atrocious the roads we have to travel on. Many of the farmers cannot get out their produce or it will be at great cost to travel on these farm roads. The other thing that is creating havoc with the farmers is praedial larceny. These are some of the problems that we have to tackle now,” the Minister emphasised.
Mr. Hutchinson was addressing the opening of the 2016 Montpelier Agricultural and Industrial Show, in St. James, on March 28.
The Minister also gave a commitment to continue work in the agro-parks, and to give more attention to the other farmers who are not a part of that programme.
“The agro-parks now cater to 5,000 farmers, but what happens to the other 250,000 farmers who have been out there carrying on agriculture for this country. They are not given enough attention and it is about time that those farmers be given more serious attention,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hutchinson argued that there is need for the agricultural sector to be properly structured, in order to move the industry to the next level of production.
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