Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, said the agriculture
sector experienced tremendous growth in the second quarter of 2024.
Minister Green, who was speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, August 27 held
at the Ministry's offices in St Andrew, underscored the importance of reflecting on
the sector’s position before Hurricane Beryl.
“I think a number of us know that last year we had a challenging year where we
suffered our driest period ever in the history of the country and went through a
prolonged drought, but our farmers really worked hard to ensure that by the end
of the year, we were on a positive trajectory in relation to our growth numbers,”
he highlighted.
The agriculture minister in providing the growth numbersfor the second quarter of
2024, said the growth numbers were carried over from the last quarter of 2023
which continued through to the second quarter of 2024, which he says is an
indication of continued growth for the sector.
“During the period of April to June 2024, total production amounted to 204,000
tonnes, representing a 5.0% increase compared to the 194,000 tonnes harvested
in the corresponding quarter of 2023 and I think we should give our farmers a big
round of applause for that,” Green outlined.
Minister Green continued to emphasise that alongside the growth numbers, there
was an increase in productivity as farmers were maximizing the hectaresthey had
under production.
“We saw tremendous growth in areas like our plantains, we saw 12% growth;
cereals 12% growth; our legumes 11% growth; tubers 11% growth, hot peppers
which performed exceptionally well in that quarter, saw a 15% growth, and that is
directly related to the some of the work that is happening through our Production
and Productivity Programmerun by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority,”
he said.
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