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Home | Greater collaboration the key to grow Jamaica’s coffee industry, says Agriculture Minister
From left, Gastronomy Network Chair, Nicola Madden-Greig; Tourism Enhancement Fund Executive Director, Dr. Carey Wallace; Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett; Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Pearnel Charles Jr; Member of Parliament for East Rural St. Andrew, Juliet Holness; and Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator Aubyn Hill, raise their cups to launch the 2023 Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival which will be held on March 25, 2023.
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Pearnel Charles Jr, says greater collaboration is the key ingredient required to grow Jamaica’s coffee industry.
“This festival stimulates the kind of collaboration that we need. It brings the people to one table and causes us to speak, to interact and to act together,” said Charles Jr, who was speaking at the press launch of the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival held on Monday, January 9, 2023, at the Edward Seaga suite at Devon House.
He outlined that the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, which is in its sixth staging, provides the conditions required to bring all the key stakeholders together to facilitate the necessary interactions that will lead to actions resulting in growth in the coffee industry.
Minister Charles Jr also spoke to the challenges that the coffee industry is facing and the different solutions that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is providing through its agencies.
“The ministry, through agencies like the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), has put in place various initiatives with the aim of reprojecting the coffee industry, as we seek to capitalize on its income-earning capabilities as well as ensure that our famous and much sought-after Blue Mountain Coffee can be enjoyed by more and more consumers worldwide,” outlined Charles Jr.
The agriculture minister also explained that the coffee industry remains a priority on the ministry’s agenda, and as such, it is executing different initiatives to ensure the continued sustainability and viability of industry as an income earner, especially for young farmers, and a contributor to Jamaica’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“JACRA is developing the coffee industry business model which seeks to identify product diversification and markets, investment opportunities and to identify the new technologies and practices with the aim of increasing coffee production for the mutual benefit of all stakeholders,” he said.
The Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, which is traditionally held in the hills of Newcastle, is the Ministry of Tourism’s flagship event spearheaded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) that celebrates homegrown coffee.
It offers consumers the opportunity to explore Blue Mountain Coffee, coffee-related products and experience the coffee culture in Jamaica through food, and a variety of activities. The 6th staging of the event will take place on March 25, 2023.
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