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FAO rep sees bright future for Jamaican agriculture

While Jamaica is seen to be holding its own in the agriculture sector, outgoing Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative Dr Jerome Thomas says there are tremendous opportunities for the country, especially in the areas of agro-processing and agri-toursim linkages.

Thomas, who for the last six years has been overseeing the operations of the United Nations-funded organisation in Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas, explained that Jamaica has the potential to maximise agricultural inputs and move the sector forward. In terms of agro-processing efforts, Thomas stated that there are great prospects for crops such as coffee, sugar, citrus, certain root and tuber crops and ackee.

“But I think there is also a tremendous potential for agri-tourism linkages because the country has about 30,000 rooms, it’s expanding and there are millions of visitors that come in every year, and one of the things the visitors do is that they eat, so there are opportunities for the domestic market,” Jones stated in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

“There are a number of challenges for the traditional crops such as sugar and citrus, with the citrus greening disease, but onion has made some good strides and undercover production (greenhouse farming) has done quite well,” Jones explained.

He said that while the development of agro-parks was a good move – as they are geared towards meeting some of the shortcomings faced by farmers, such as providing the relevant infrastructure, proper irrigation systems and planting materials – the concept has not developed as much as one would have anticipated.

“Along with the hard inputs, one requires the extension support, a clear direction and it should be demand-driven, as opposed to production-driven. There is also the need for the value chain approach where we clearly understand all the steps from the seed in the ground until it reaches the consumers’ hands and make sure we identify any gaps and weaknesses along that chain and address all of those.”

Read more at the Jamaica Observer
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