Programme targets local agricultural groups for capacity building training

Members of four agricultural groups are engaged in a series of capacity-building activities which will see them engaged in workshops, field trips and other exercises aimed at promoting their participation in value chains that will enhance their contribution to the rural economy.

The Learning Route under the theme ‘Come up in the Value Chain! Moving the Businesses and Associative Capacities of Small Rural Producer Organisations’ got under way on Monday and will run until Saturday, during which time members of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association, Ebony Park Agro Co-operative Union, Jamaica Fisherman Co-operative Union and the Potato & Onion Producers Association will seek to identify strategies, solutions and good practices useful to improving their performances.

In welcoming the new initiative, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Pearnel Charles Jr noted that the alignment of increases in production with improvements in efficiency is critical to Jamaica realising its Vision 2030 goals. He warned, however, that sustained action must be a solid cornerstone.

“We are here moving the business and associated capacities of small rural producer organisations. All of us are moving towards this journey of new knowledge, fresh ideas and innovative solutions. For us, this needs to be more than just catchphrases or words, we have to understand how critical these elements are going to craft the new output, push us past and through all of the challenges that exist with climate change, of COVID-19 and conflict,” he told the opening ceremony.

Logistic coordinator of the Farmers’ Organizations for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (FO4ACP), Maelle Johnston, told The Gleaner that the project which is being launched simultaneously in Belize, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti and St Lucia is designed to increase the incomes and improve livelihoods, food and nutrition security, while enhancing the stability of family farming. Its main purpose is to improve the processes of production, processing, marketing, networking and business management among the beneficiaries.

It is anticipated that the knowledge shared will include the analysis of solutions for the professionalisation of business management, negotiation skills with the different actors in the value chains, solutions to diversity, the participation of small farmers in new value chains, among other relevant topics at the country level.

The journey which got under way at the Altamont Court Hotel, New Kingston, will see participants making a trip to the Blue Mountains on Wednesday to get a look at the activities of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association, where they will participate in a case study which will explore, among other things, new marketing strategies, success stories and the lessons learnt. On Thursday the group travels to the Ebony Park Agro Co-operative in Clarendon for a working visit, while on Friday it will tour the offices of the Jamaica Fishermen’s Co-operative Union on Beechwood Avenue, Kingston, as well as tour the Alcoa Fishermen Co-operative stores in St Ann, where the group will engage with the management committee vendors and customers, and take a tour of the Discovery Bay Marine Protected Area.

Saturday’s activities will start with the final case analysis workshop and a review of the Learning Route which was developed by PRECURSAR I being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and funded by the European Union.