Agro-Invest agro parks, zones eyeing October for recovery from Beryl
Published:Wednesday | August 28, 2024 | 12:05 AMLuke Douglas/Senior Business Reporter
Lands under the management of the Agro-Investment Corporation suffered losses of $700 million as a result of Hurricane Beryl on July 3, which pummelled crops and infrastructure on the properties it manages in partnership with investors.
Agro-Invest CEO Vivion Scully said crop volumes at the agro parks and production zones is not likely to return to normal levels until late in the year.
Agro-Invest is the national agribusiness promotion and facilitation agency in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Mining. Its mandate to package, promote and facilitate agri-business investment opportunities.
The agro parks are located across Jamaica but the main ones are in St Catherine, Clarendon and St Thomas. They include Amity Hall in St Catherine, as well as Spring Plain and Ebony Park in Clarendon.
While it is well known that St Elizabeth, Manchester and Clarendon were hardest hit by Beryl, Scully said there was damage to its facilities across the island.
“The banana belt which is Portland and St Mary was severely affected by Beryl. There was buildup of water because of the continuous rain, and flooding in some areas. Farmers in St Elizabeth suffered infrastructure damage. Fragile crops such as tomatoes and bananas were affected by wind,” he said in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.
The agro parks, usually located on lands formerly used for growing sugar cane, have infrastructure such as roads, irrigation and storage facilities, while the production zones are areas where groups of organised farmers lease lands and are provided with technical and marketing support and training by Agro-Invest.
The lands are usually owned by Government and leased to farmers in plots ranging from five acres upward, for periods of five to 10 years, which can be renewed subject to performance and output.
There are an estimated 5,000 acres under production in the agro parks and production zones, employing as many as 15,000 persons.
Scully said both the agro parks and production zones tend to focus on vegetable cash crops that can be grown within six weeks to four months, such as tomatoes, melons, carrots, Irish potatoes, cassava, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, lettuce and cabbage.
About 20 per cent of the produce is grown for export, with most going to local markets, grocery stores, supermarkets and hotels.
Increased importation of vegetables may be inevitable in the short run, while farms recover from Beryl, he said, and Agro-Invest’s current goal is for farmers to get back into production by October.
“We are moving quickly to provide as much support to the farmers to replant as much as possible. The ministry is supporting us with some of the allocation to drive the restoration of production across the agriculture sector,” Scully said.
Government has provided $50 million to support activities such as provision of seedlings, fertiliser and clearing of drainage channels in the parks and zones which had suffered damage.
“The main objective is to get the farmers’ production up by October, so we can see a full restoration of the crops by year end,” Scully said.
In 2023, the agro parks and production zones yielded close to 15 million kilogrammes of produce.
Agro-Invest is currently expanding the number of farmers in its programme, with lease agreements formally transferred to 55 farmers and investors in the Islington, Mount Pleasant, and Harmony Hall areas of southeast St Ann on August 21.