Witter: Jamaica had second-highest crop production level in 2023 despite drought
Published:Monday | April 8, 2024 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Franklin Witter, state minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, has indicated that Jamaica managed to achieve its second-highest recorded domestic crop production level last year, with 779,254 tonnes of local crops produced despite adverse weather conditions in 2023.
Witter made the declaration on Sunday while addressing the 41st annual National Farmers’ Month church service at the Kettering Baptist Church in Duncans, Trelawny. The service was held as part of the Jamaica Agricultural Society’s (JAS) planned series of activities for April to celebrate the contributions of Jamaica’s farmers to national development.
Drought, intense rainfall
“Jamaica, like the rest of the world, experienced one of the hottest years ever recorded, and that was last year. Consequently, the drought, as well as the short period of intense rainfall that we would have been experiencing, did have some impact on our productivity here in Jamaica,” Witter stated.
“Nevertheless, Jamaica was still able to achieve its second highest level of domestic crop production. This was 779,254 tonnes of domestic crop production, second largest in our history,” Witter added proudly. “I must say that this speaks to the love that God has for this island of Jamaica. With all those challenges and difficulties, we were able to achieve that, so we give Him thanks for his mercies and blessings.”
The domestic crop production level recorded for 2023 falls significantly below the 846,508 tonnes recorded for 2022, which was itself a 9.9 percent increase over the 770,456 tonnes recorded in 2021.
Notably, in June 2023, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green disclosed that Jamaica was on track to record a decline in domestic crop production for the first half of that year because of the drought conditions affecting the country up to that point since October 2022.
More public education needed
Witter also told Sunday’s service that more public education must be made available for farmers to know and understand the incentives and avenues of assistance which are available to make their farming endeavours easier.
“We need to increase support from the ministry to all the various departments and all the various agricultural sectors, and that is why we are celebrating Farmer’s Month here today. Our strategic vision is embedded in our New FACE of Food strategy, and this is an acronym for a strategic layout of food security, agro-business development, climate-change technologies, and export expansion,” said Witter, referencing the Ministry of Agriculture’s current farming initiative, which was launched in 2021.
In the meantime, addressing the service on behalf of JAS President Lenworth Fulton, the organisation’s second vice-president, Owen Dobson, told the congregants that the agricultural sector’s challenges can only be resolved through a unified effort among Jamaica’s farming stakeholders.
“The challenges in the sector are well known, from low productivity to the climate-change dilemma and scarcity of investment, among others, but the solution must come from within by way of our collective effort. Let me use this medium to congratulate our farmers, members, and stakeholders for their contribution and abiding faith in the JAS, and by extension, the sector,” said Dobson.