Agri ministry to roll out Grow Smart plans
Published:Thursday | August 4, 2022 | 12:12 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Pearnel Charles Jr has disclosed that the ministry will soon be launching several Grow Smart plans to ensure greater diversification of value-added products.
“We are going to be growing smart by ensuring we reduce our input costs through increased use of renewable energy such as the upgraded solar-powered pump station at Little Park,” Charles Jr said during Wednesday’s commissioning ceremony for the ministry’s first amphibious excavator in Rocky Hill, St Elizabeth.
“We are going to be growing smart by installing irrigation systems in areas such as Essex Valley and sections of southern Clarendon so that farmers can grow what we eat and expand our production of healthy nutritious food that we need to eat smart,” he added.
The minister said that for the new Grow Smart project, the ministry would be strengthening the application of technology, innovation, research, and development.
The ministry will also be embarking on a major irrigation scheme to divert water from Black River to drought-plagued areas such as the Pedro Plains to assist more than 4,000 farmers. A key component of this is the $3-million amphibious excavator, which Charles Jr said has been in operation in the Breadbasket Parish for months.
“It has been doing good work all over the parish since earlier this year,” he said, noting that the equipment, which can operate on land and in water, will be used to clean drainage, clear farm lands, and assist in irrigation and flood-prevention efforts.