Shaw aims to cut onion imports

Efforts must be made to reduce the percentage of onions being imported for domestic consumption, stressed Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Audley Shaw.

It is a call to which the Caribbean Broilers Group is responding through its Crop Division subsidiary, Imagination Farms, situated at Hill Run, St Catherine, where it has 12 of over 400 acres of land under onion cultivation.

Data provided by the Caribbean Broilers, more popularly known for meat production, indicate that over the past five years, domestic onion consumption soared to 10 million kilogrammes per annum, of which imports accounted for approximately 85 per cent.

12 acres under cultivation

Against this background, Shaw emphasised that "we have to begin to chip away at that (85) percentage", through increased domestic cultivation, during a tour of Imagination Farms on Friday.

Caribbean Broilers Group Operations Manager Don McGlashan said the entity is seeking to produce enough onions from the 12 acres under cultivation to contribute to reducing imports by an initial 10 per cent, with a view to increasing this to 50 per cent over the next five years.

Noting that the Mercedes and Polaris varieties of onions are currently grown at the farms, McGlashan said the entity wants to contribute to reducing the ratio of imports.

"We (Jamaica) are importing about nine million kilogrammes and we want to be a part of the process to arrest this situation. We have started on a good road. Our yields have been good, and at the end of the harvest in another 10 days, we should be doing as well as anybody in First-World countries," he added.

Shaw underscored the need to boost the ratio of domestic crops consumed within the hospitality sector, which he said totals five per cent.

The minister said against the background of inputs from stakeholders, such as the Caribbean Broilers Group, he is optimistic of a turnaround in this regard.

In addition to onions, Imagination Farms also cultivates Scotch bonnet peppers, sorrel, sweet corn and West Indies Sea Island cotton.