 The
Domestic Food Crop and Marketing Project, which falls under the Rural
Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), has continued to record
impressive returns, with the project recording 19,000 tonnes of harvested
produce since its inception in 1998.
This was stated by Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, during his
contribution to the 2004/05 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives
yesterday (May 18).
Mr. Clarke noted that the harvested crops had fetched a value of $421
million.
He pointed out that the crops targeted by the programme were negro
yam, yellow yam, sweet potato, red cocoa, tomato, hot peppers, escallion,
plantain, dasheen and exotic vegetables, and that marketing arrangements
continue to be brokered for farmers to sell fresh produce to hotels,
supermarkets, green grocers and processors.
Elaborating on projects involving RADA, the Minister said the Authority
has continued with the development of the Agri-Business Information
System (ABIS), which would process data on stakeholders and their
activities, and be a repository of technical information.
He said that to date, the sites have been prepared and computers installed
in all RADA parish offices, which will function as ABIS centres. Farm
registers have been installed on all parish computers designated for
extension officers, and these officers were now in the field collecting
data from buyers and input suppliers for the registers, the Minister
informed.
Mr.
Clarke pointed out that online registration would begin soon, and
that the capability to facilitate online trading in agricultural
produce has been developed and would be operational in a matter
of weeks.
ABIS will assist stakeholders to buy and sell produce, and to forecast
key agricultural variables. The system will also boost capacity
and competitiveness, while measuring performance.
Turning to RADA’s Social Services and Home Economics Unit,
Mr. Clarke said that the programme has continued to touch the lives
of rural farm families through the empowerment of 2,000 rural women
and young people, who have received training to enable them to earn
a living within their communities and to develop their entrepreneurial
skills.
He said that during the year, the Twickenham and Flower Hill Bammy
enterprise’s production line was expanded to include a cereal
from the cassava leaf called ‘Gari’, cassava flour and
their flagship product, the popular pancake mix.
In addition, Twickenham Industry also installed a bio-digester system
and was now utilizing gas generated from the wastewater obtained
during the processing of cassava, thereby providing for some of
its energy needs and ensuring that operations were environmentally
friendly.
The Minister also disclosed that Flower Hill would soon be opening
the doors of a new $6 million, state-of-the-art factory, which was
built with assistance from the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).
During the year, processed sweet cassava leaves, a product developed
as part of the RADA’s activities in St. Thomas, was exported
to Canada for the first time.
RADA also continued implementing its Tree Crop Project, where up
to January of 2004, 779 hectares were planted in a wide range of
fruit trees, across 13 parishes. A total of 193,000 seedlings were
distributed as part of this important programme.
Mr. Clarke pointed out that an Agricultural Development Programme
for each parish has been developed by RADA, and specific projects
have been identified with a price tag of $75 million, adding that
funding has been identified.
The Minister also revealed that RADA has been implementing a revolutionary
training methodology, termed the farmer field school.
“This approach to the transfer of technology to our farmers
is being spearheaded by the European Commission under the CARIFORUM
Caribbean Agriculture and Fisheries Programme/Integrated Pest Management
Project (CAFP/IPM),” he said.
The programme, he said, involved the training of trainers in the
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technology transfer approach on
vegetable production. A master trainer, he noted, has already been
trained, and he in turn, has trained trainers (extension officers,
researchers), and the farmer field schools are now being established
with activities starting in the western part of the island.
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