St. James Farmers Hailed

JAMAICA:  Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) St. James Parish Agricultural Manager, Sadie Dixon Bennett, is hailing the farmers in the parish for their commitment to safeguarding the nation’s food security.
She told JIS News that the 8,650 registered farmers have been working hard to cultivate crops for both the local and export markets.
“We have somewhere in the region of 1,250 hectares of agricultural crops growing in the parish and these include vegetables, pineapples, bananas, plantains, ground provisions and we have now gone into Irish potato,” she informed.
“We have been doing sweet potato (and) we want to diversify into onions…and for the past two years or so, we were tops in ginger production for the country,” she boasted.
Mrs. Dixon Bennett noted that the parish is positioning itself to become the leading producer of banana and plantain, with lands identified under the agro-parks programme for the growing of the crops.
She informed that through the Production Incentive Programmes, they will be able to access key inputs such as seeds, fertiliser, small livestock, tools and irrigation equipment.
Mrs. Dixon Bennett told JIS News that the parish is also showing significant improvements in poultry and small ruminant production.
She said the office continues to work to identify markets for the farmers and will be meeting with key stakeholders in the hotel industry in order “to get more local produce on the plates of resort guests.”
“We can see that the hotel rooms are growing and we are hoping to have discussions with the JHTA (Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association) …to see how some of these farmers’ group can benefit from the hotel markets,” she told JIS News.
Mrs. Dixon Bennett further pointed to plans to implement two apiculture projects, which will target at-risk youth in the parish.
She said the office is hoping to get the projects underway “within the next month or two.”
She said the objective is to provide income-earning opportunity for young people in vulnerable communities.
“We think that apiculture is a good thing for them…there is good money in honey,” Mrs. Dixon Bennett said.
Farmers in St. James are served by six Extension Officers, four Specialist Officers, one Marketing Extension Officer, one Livestock Extension Officer, one Land Husbandry Officer and one Social Services/Home Economics Officer.