Green eyes St James as major export point for orchard crops
Published:Saturday | January 20, 2024 | 12:06 AMAshley Anguin/Gleaner Writer
Agriculture Minister Floyd Green believes that St James has significant potential to become a major export point for orchard crops such as mango, ackee and breadfruit, and is calling on farmers to collaborate with the his ministry to make this a reality.
He was addressing farmers at the New FACE of Food stakeholder engagement session held at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Westgate, Montego Bay, on Wednesday.
“We believe St James has tremendous potential to continue to lead the charge in terms of export expansion. We want to continue to expand the exports that come out of our country. Clearly, one of the main agricultural ports of export is right here in St James, so it stands to reason that we need to enhance the production around the things that we know are being tremendously demanded on the export stage, so that we can use the Montego Bay airport to continue to drive that export expansion,” Green said.
According to the minister, farmers in St James have the unique opportunity because of the proximity to the Sangster International Airport, a major port in western Jamaica.
“St James has wonderful areas for all our orchard crops – mangoes, breadfruit, and ackee. We see the demand, and we at the ministry are willing to provide you, the farmers, with the planting material, so that we can accelerate the pace of buildout,” he added.
Jamaica resumed shipment of mangoes to the United States in 2019, after having been out of that market since 1999.
In 2010, Jamaica’s ackee export market was reported as being threatened by increasing competition from other producers, to include Haiti and Belize, as well as the revaluation of the Jamaican dollar at the time.
In 2023, then-Agriculture Minister Pearnel Charles Jr said that Jamaica was beginning to reap benefits from the export of mangoes to the United States; pineapples to Barbados; and ackee, plantain, soursop and breadfruit to the Cayman Islands.
Changing climate
On Wednesday, Green also stressed that Jamaican farmers must be equipped to be able to handle changing climate conditions for effective crop production.
“We are living in a different world. Where we used to have drought, we’re now having rain. Where we used to have rain, we’re now having drought. As such, we have planned around that new reality,” said Green.
“We want more of our farmers to move from being primary producers to look at value addition, as well as how you can maximise your profit,” he added, noting that part of the ministry’s current focus is building farmers’ capacity for agro-business development.
Locksley Waites, senior agronomist at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), told the farmers that there are several things to consider in choosing crops to focus on for export.
“The trees we are promoting are ackee, breadfruit and mangoes. They are normally referred to as permanent crops, meaning they are going to outlive us, our children, and possibly our grandchildren. With this in mind, we would like you to get it right from day one, and getting it right means I would like you to have a sit-down conversation with your respective extension officers, and that conversation should involve a few questions,” said Waites.
“The first question you need to ask is, where is the market? What is the size of the market? Is the market local, regional, or international? What type of produce? Is it fresh fruit, processed fruit, or a combination? What variety is required? What size, what state of maturity?” Waites added.
In the meantime, Sally-Anne Corrodus, chief operating officer at Childermas Farms, applauded Green’s vision.
“The potential for foreign exchange earnings is great. The Ginger Hill area for pineapple production. In the early 2000s, RADA estimated over 15,000 acres under pineapple production, and it has increased tremendously since then. The number of persons farming pineapple – not to mention the Maroon Town to Garlands to north St Elizabeth and Manchester doing pineapple. It has to be,” Corrodus stated.