| KINGSTON, May 19 (JIS): |
 In
its determination to see farmers increase production of pimento crops
to take greater advantage of the vast potential market for this spice,
the Ministry of Agriculture is currently implementing a Pimento Rehabilitation
programme, with all the required inputs being made available to pimento
farmers free of charge. This was announced yesterday (May 18) by Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, during his contribution to the 2004/05 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives. Mr. Clarke said the Ministry was also determined to have farmers increase their output of ginger for the lucrative market, which existed. “If ever there was a niche market…pimento and ginger must surely be among the most exclusive to us. It is well known that Jamaica produces the finest quality of pimento in the world, while the flavour of our ginger is famous and highly sought after,” the Minister said. Mr. Clarke noted that the pimento inputs for the farmers include planting material, black ant control, drying equipment, reaping equipment, and research and development. These interventions, he said, were already reaping success with positive signs of increased production. The Minister reminded that the ginger industry was on the verge of virtual extinction in 1999, as a result of the ginger rhizome rot disease. However, due to the production of ‘clean’ planting material, utilizing the tissue culture technology, an initiative spearheaded by the Ministry in collaboration with the Scientific Research Council, the industry had recovered to the extent where Jamaican ginger was now available to satisfy local demand. “I must say that our Export Division has played a vital role in this positive turn of events and we are now making every effort to rebuild the ginger export market, which has required our starting from ‘scratch’, by identifying buyers abroad,” he said. Mr. Clarke pointed out that all potential buyers had confirmed the quality of Jamaican ginger, that it was superior to its counterparts from other countries. However, he noted that there was a significant pricing differential, which was Jamaica’s main problem. For example, the United States had a price of US48 cents per pound, as compared with the Jamaican ginger, which sold at US$3.60 per pound. “We are confronting this problem, because if we can become more cost competitive, the quality of our ginger will speak for itself,” he said. The Minister told the House that experiments were being carried out on the extraction of ginger emulsion, which was widely used by bakeries. “These value-added products would be one method of resolving the marketing problem and garnering more returns to the industry,” Mr. Clarke said. |
