Agrofest 2022 showcases farming innovations
Published:Monday | May 30, 2022 | 12:54 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
After a hiatus due the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kingston and St Andrew Association of Branch Societies and the Jamaica Agricultural Society’s (JAS) 26th staging of Agrofest returns to the annals of agricultural shows in Jamaica.
Staged at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Hope Gardens facility in Kingston on Saturday, the festival saw a phenomenal growth and a renewed focus on farmers’ innovativeness in food production and agri-processing as the now familiar theme, ‘Grow what we eat ... Eat what we grow’ became a talking point for every contributing speaker at the event.
The Jamaica 4-H Clubs, with its primary objective over the years of youth involvement in agriculture, has broadened its appeal to attract more young people to farming in a bid to encourage food diversification, given the impact of climate change.
Displaying some cutting-edge farm techniques aimed primarily at courting young farmers, Regional Manager for the 4-H Clubs Eastern Region, Sharlene Edwards, said the efforts of the movement in engaging young farmers are reaping tremendous success.
“Despite the average global age of farmers being around 60 to 65 years, in Jamaica we are seeing the 40 age range getting into farming, all because of the impact of the 4-H movement.”
“One of the methods by which we attract them is our ‘Reap’ programme, where we train young people in basic agriculture, and give them simple input to start up their businesses, or to expand their businesses in agro-related areas,” Edwards told The Gleaner.
In addition to awarding scholarship programmes to study agriculture, the movement has developed a programme of seeds and livestock distribution to young farmers, as well as inputs for householders to start up backyard farming. This is supported with a registration process for these backyard and young farmers.
The movement’s displays at the festival zeroed in on urban farming, highlighting vertical integration farming procedures, whereby persons in urban areas without land space can still plant food crops using innovative techniques.
The Mount Salus Farmers Group, displaying a wide range of mango products and by-products from the seasonal fruit, highlighted the advancement in agro-processing, an area of primary focus in the agricultural sector.
Vice-president of the collective, Rohan Smith, said making farming attractive for young people has been the primary goal of the farming group.
“Our group has an outreach programme, where we go out and sell our initiatives. We also solicit funding for our members who want to get into farming.”
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
Smith added: “Venturing into agro-processing, and putting our labels out there as one of our primary objectives, will also attract young people to get involved in some aspects of agriculture.”
A mango wine, mango jam, mango powder, mango hot sauce, mango wine and cheese cakes, mango butter, dehydrated mango snacks, in addition to mango skin products, such as mango oil and mango soaps, were displayed by the group.
The horticultural sector was not to be undone. A wide variety of flowers and decorative potted plants were exhibited, highlighting the growth of the sector.
Rupert Truman, who for 30 years has carried on a business started by his father, had a display of over 50 different varieties of flowers and medicinal plants.
“I grew up loving plants and flowers, so I continued in my father’s footsteps,” he said.
Truman alluded to the challenge of not being able to get flower seeds as a major disruption in the sector.
“While the response of the public to horticulture has been tremendous, one major disruption is not being able to get flower seeds. In the past, we could get seeds from the ministry or purchase them at Times Store, but not any more.”
Truman said he partially circumvents this by mass propagation.
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Pearnel Charles Jr, who spoke at the festival, raised the issue of protection for the Jamaica coffee industry and pledged the Government’s support to protect the Jamaican brand from exploitation by competitors.
“We are doing what we have to do to strengthen the international recognition and protection of our Jamaican coffee, so that across the world, we not only expand coffee production in Jamaica, but make sure our coffee is protected,” the minister said.
Festival coordinator, Josephine Hamilton, parish manager for Kingston and St Andrew JAS, said this year’s agricultural showcase has exceeded expectations.
“On a scale of one to 10, I will say this year is an eight. We have 37 exhibitors and participants displaying high-class exhibits. This, of course, exceeds what we had at our last showing in 2019,” Hamilton disclosed.
“Our focus is on our farmers who have shown their innovativess in food production and agro-processing, as well as commercial exhibits, all of which are on full display today,” she noted.
Highlighting the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Courts Jamaica and the Digicel Foundation as major sponsors of the event, Hamilton singled out Digicel Foundation for its involvement with farmers throughout the COVID pandemic, sponsoring farmers’ markets that led to a renewed enthusiasm on the part of farmers, leading up to the Agrofest 22 staging.