Agriculture Minister urges Farmers to expand Coffee Production beyond Blue Mountains

Hon Karl Samuda (right), Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, in discussion with Norman Grant (left), chief executive officer of the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory and secretary of the Jamaica Coffee Exporters Association; and James Rawle, chairman of the Standards Council, Bureau of Standards Jamaica, at the launch of the revised Jamaican Standard Specification for Coffee in Kingston on February 1.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Karl Samuda is
urging local farmers to expand production of low- land and high- mountain coffee
in an effort to reduce green coffee bean imports.
Low- land and high- mountain coffee is grown outside of the Blue Mountain range
in parishes such as Clarendon, St. Catherine, Manchester and St. James.
Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is sometimes mixed with other coffee beans to
produce a coffee blend that is in high demand but fetches relatively lower prices.
The country imported just under 430 tonnes of green coffee beans valuing
US$1.74m in 2016 for this purpose.
Minister Samuda says the time has come for more of these beans to be produced
locally.
“We can blend the Blue Mountain coffee with our locally grown coffee. We must
develop low- land and high- mountain coffee across the length and breadth of
Jamaica where it can be produced,” said Minister Samuda.
Minister Samuda was speaking Wednesday at the launch of the JS 61:2016
Jamaican Specification for Coffee at the Bureau of Standards Jamaica.
Minister Samuda also announced that plans to tax imported green beans are well
advanced.
“We are going to put a cess on the imported beans, because there is already a
cess on locally grown green beans, so we are leveling the playing field,” said
Minister Samuda.
The money collected from the cess will be used for the development and
expansion of the local coffee industry.
The new coffee standard focuses on the specific requirements for local and
imported coffee.
It establishes the conditions to preserve the Jamaican coffee quality and brand,
which are necessary for maintaining the authenticity of Jamaican Coffee.
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Contact: Karlene Brown Tel: 968-8669

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