Bank on us, DBJ head assures agri minister
FACE of Food campaign relaunched to boost resilience, expand opportunities
Published:Saturday | August 5, 2023 | 12:08 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) has committed to fully backing the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining’s ‘New FACE of Food’ initiative.
Over the next three years, the effort will seek to bolster Jamaica’s food security, reduce food waste through agri-business expansion, transform agri-food systems to be climate-resilient, and provide expanded export opportunities.
At Friday’s relaunch of the Food Security, Agro-business Development, Climate-Smart Technologies and Export Expansion (FACE) campaign, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green explained that it will strategically focus on ensuring that the country produces enough to feed itself by strengthening the value-added chains, ensuring greater infusion of smart technology into farming practices, and targeting in-demand crops to drive exports.
“DBJ is 100 per cent on board and we are fully prepared to work with the ministry and our partners to making FACE a success and … to address the gap which exists,” DBJ Managing Director Anthony Shaw declared.
Given that the ministry’s project fits seamlessly with the DBJ’s plans, the bank is perfectly placed to assist the first three points – food security, agri-business development and climate-smart technologies – according to Shaw.
“Particularly after our accreditation to the Green Climate Fund a few weeks ago, which gives us access to financing at a significantly reduced interest rate; that’s a very big deal; and so we are now ramping up how we access those funds,” the DBJ’s managing director explained.
Agriculture export expansion
“Access to financing is one of the major issues affecting agriculture,” he admitted. “A team from the DBJ met with Minister Green and his team this week and we have established a working group to move agriculture forward. The issues and obstacles in agriculture are well known. Some are very large … and the gap is there. The issue now is how do you address that gap?”
On the issue of export expansion, the DBJ head also committed its support.
“As far as the ‘E’ is concerned, DBJ is ready to partner with other government or private-sector entities to institute programmes and projects that will expand our overseas markets. The DBJ will be supportive of the ministry’s efforts on FACE, both directly and indirectly, by strengthening our efforts to leverage the pool of available resources with our partners to drive development in the sector. We will assist in funding various programmes and projects to modernise the sector though digital transformation, access climate-smart technology which is a critical focus for the sector and, as we know, climate change is real,” added Shaw.
Meanwhile, Green pointed out FACE is not just another strategy, but represents a major reshaping and rethinking of how agriculture is viewed and done in Jamaica.
“We’ve identified specific production areas islandwide to which we will channel targeted support. We’re also calling for greater investment in the sector because public-private partnerships have the potential to boost production and experts by 10 to 15 per cent. The goal is to provide increased opportunities for foreign earnings through export and bolster Jamaica’s global economic presence,” he pointed out.