The Hon. Floyd Green, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries has hosted a series of meetings with farmers and fisher-folk through an island-wide Listening Tour. This tour commenced on Thursday, October 1, 2020 through to Saturday, October 24, 2020.

With the main purpose to ascertain the concerns, challenges, daily issues and interests of the fisher-folk and farmers, this information was collated to ensure that a plan of action is crafted to assist in directing the priorities and most urgent matters to be dealt with by the Minister.

During the tumultuous experiences of the COVID -19 pandemic, 46 farmers from the Mount Airy Farmers Group were able to successfully participate in a Climate Resilience Farmer Field School Training Project undertaken by the Nature Conservancy/ Coca Cola in collaboration with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority.

 The project commenced on February 17, 2020 through a sensitization session with farmers followed by a series of practical training exercises. The farmers were engaged and eagerly participated using the FFS methodology of learning without walls.

On June 20, 2020, Supreme Ventures Group (SVG) collaborated with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to distribute care packages with fresh produce to residents the Gregory Park community in the Caymanas Park area. Many of these residents originally maintained their livelihood at the race track that has been closed for the past two months.

This initiative originates from a the COVID-19 Jamaica Response Fund organized through the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica which sees corporate entities donating towards COVID-19 relief efforts in challenged communities.

The RADA On-Farm Water Management Unit was dubbed the quick and immediate response team as the Unit took decisive action in providing much needed assistance to farmers of the Red Lands Production and Marketing Organization in Redlands Clarendon.

On Thursday, June 18, 2020, at a brief Handing Over Ceremony The Red Lands PMO received 1000 feet conveyance system and 3 rolls of 50mm (100) polyethylene hose and fittings to assist in repairing sections of the irrigation system that was damaged in a recent bush fire.

On Friday, June 12, 2020, J.Wray and Nephew assisted 286 bartenders who previously worked with the company’s events team but are unemployed based on the shutdown of the entertainment industry. This was done through the hosting of a free drive through/walk through farmer’s market at their Corporate Office at 234 Spanish Town Road.

On Friday, June 12, 2020, the Hi Pro Division of the Jamaica Broilers Group launched the Grow Strong Initiative in which the company will donate a total of 78 tonnes of Hi Pro feeds, seeds, fungicides, herbicides and insecticides  through grow strong farm kits at a total product value of $23.6M.

Hi-Pro will partner with agricultural agencies to include RADA, JAS, the Dairy Board, Jamaica Egg Farmers Association, Jamaica Pig Farmers Association, Small Ruminants Association of Jamaica and 4-H Clubs for the disbursement of the input materials. 

H& L Agro and Newport Fersan have donated input materials to assist farmers to boost production during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will be distributing a portion of these input materials to farmers island-wide.  The distribution process began at a Handing Over Ceremony in Dunkeld, St. Catherine.

Speaking at the Ceremony Hon. J.C. Hutchinson congratulated the input suppliers for stepping up to the cause of assisting our farmers with the much needed boost to produce and produce consistently during this period.

PHOTO: Symbolic handing over of fertilizer by Dennis Valdez, Managing Director Newport Fersan (centre) to Hon.J.C. Hutchinson, Minister without Portfolio, MICAF (second right), on Saturday, May 16, 2020. Also in photo from left Hon. Floyd Green, Minister of State MICAF, Mr. Peter Thompson, CEO, RADA and Mr. Lenworth Fulton, President JAS (right).

The impact of COVID-19 has been large and wide with unprecedented disruptions in global economies, and livelihoods.

On a local level, with the downturn of the tourism and hospitality industries, early close out of the market place and other stringent measures to control this pandemic, the traditional markets for our farmers have been brutality hit. This has led to farmers having excess produce to distribute.

Jamaica is facing an outbreak of the novel corona virus – COVID19, which causes serious respiratory disease and may be deadly especially for the elderly and those with weakened immune systems due to underlying illnesses etc. The World Health Organization has declared the global outbreak a pandemic. As you would have heard the corona virus can be fought by taking several recommended steps to prevent transmission and spread of the disease. Widespread cancellation of events to create ‘social distancing’ to reduce the rate of spread is becoming more and more prolific.