Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, speaking at the Handover Ceremony of Hurricane Beryl Relief Supplies yesterday (September 24) at the Ministry's offices in St Andrew.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, has noted that Jamaica is noticing a resurgence of local vegetable products in its markets.

He made the disclosure at a handover ceremony of agricultural input supplies valuing up to 9 million dollars from the Jamaica Agricultural Chemicals Association (JACA), held on September 24 at the Ministry’s offices in St. Andrew.
Minister Green indicated that the country is moving ahead of its projections for recovery.

“Initially, I had said that I didn’t think we would see any local production really come back before October going down to November that’s what we had earmarked,” he shared.
The agriculture minister emphasised that the resurgence of local crops in the markets has facilitated a decline in prices.

“We saw for the first time since Hurricane Beryl, a decline in prices at our markets and we saw further decline this week. So, I am saying that our farmers are really doing a good job along with associations like the Jamaica Agricultural Chemicals Association, to help us build back stronger,” Green pointed out.

Meanwhile, Minister Green used the opportunity to lobby for a decrease in the length of time to approve and introduce new chemical items in Jamaica’s agriculture space. He said this is something that will require collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

“As we go to look at more industrial type agriculture, we have to ensure that our chemicals are safe, we have to ensure that what we are doing is sustainable, but we also have to ensure that our approval process is efficient so that we can be using first world chemicals to treat with our agricultural sector,” he outlined.

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