Agriculture ministry to partner with Knockalva College for milk production
Published:Tuesday | April 2, 2024 | 12:12 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AGRICULTURE MINISTER Floyd Green has announced that his ministry will be partnering with the Hanover-based Knockalva Polytechnic College as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen Jamaica’s dairy industry.
Addressing yesterday’s staging of the 2024 Montpelier Agricultural Show in Montpelier, St James, Green stated that the move will form part of the ministry’s thrust to upgrade the Knockalva institute’s capacity for agricultural research and training.
“We cannot progress our agricultural sector unless we have the highest levels of training. Knockalva has served us well over the years, but they need a capital injection, and they need some resources to truly, not only train, but to do research work in Montpelier,” said Green.
“Already I have identified Knockalva as one of the institutions that is going to lead the resurgence of our dairy industry. We are working with the Jamaica Dairy Development Board (JDDB), and we’re going to come down, we’re going to develop some fodder, we’re going to help them [Knockalva] with a milking parlour, and we’re going to give them some cows, because we’re going to use Knockalva to ‘drive back’ [bolster] the dairy industry right here in St James,” Green added.
That announcement has been welcomed by Natalie Thompson, principal of Knockalva Polytechnic College, who pointed to the institution’s provision of a multifaceted agricultural training programme to include dairy farming since its inception in 1940.
“We have a dairy farm at the institution which was dormant, but now it is back, and we are currently producing milk. We have over 50 head of cattle among the stock, and as we are now rebranding, we are now in exploratory environments, and we are looking at seriously expanding our stock. We want to be a part of the sustainable developmental project as it relates to agriculture,” said Thompson.
“Knockalva has a rich history of producing quality produce, and milk is also a part of it. The school was once one of the leading milk-producing entities in terms of educational institutions in our country, and we intend to go back there,” Thompson added. “We welcome the support, and I am happy that he [Green] has made that announcement, and so we look forward to great things.”
In May 2023, it was reported that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries would be strengthening its partnership with dairy industry stakeholders to boost Jamaica’s milk production, which up to that time ranged between 11 and 13 million litres annually. Jamaica produced some 12.4 million litres of milk in 2022, more than 1.1 million litres above the 11.3 million litres produced in 2021.
Calls were previously made in 2022 for young people to get more involved in the dairy production sector, with the development of dairy production facilities in schools being proposed by the JDDB as a potential strategy to promote interest in that part of the agricultural sector.
In the meantime, Green told Monday’s agricultural show in Montpelier that focus will also be given to ginger and turmeric production and research in that area, as well as at Knockalva.
“The other thing that we’re spending some money on, starting this year, is on our Montpelier research centre, [because] you can’t progress further than your research work. We have to have active research work, and Montpelier is going to be paying a lot of attention on ginger and turmeric,” said Green. “There is significant demand worldwide, and we have a US$14-million programme to drive the production of ginger, turmeric, and pimento, and we’re going to be using Montpelier along with Knockalva to drive those things.”