Shaw sees potential for Jamaica as Canada legalises cannabis

Her Excellency Laurie Peters, High Commissioner of Canada, presents copies of crop manuals to the Hon. Audley Shaw (right), Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, at the Canadian High Commission in St. Andrew on October 18, 2018. At left is Alvin Murray, Senior Agricultural Coordinator (Regional), PROPEL. The occasion was a PROPEL-organised forum under the theme ‘Creating Opportunities: The Promotion of Sustainable Economic Development through Agribusiness for Women and Youth which highlighted the achievements of PROPEL in Jamaica over the past six years.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Hon Audley Shaw, has identified the potential for Jamaica to increase its earnings from the cannabis industry in light of Canada's legalisation of the recreational use of the plant.
Minister Shaw said that in the wake of Canada’s legalisation of the use of cannabis for recreational purposes (on October 17), Jamaica could not “continue to flirt with cannabis because cannabis has now conclusively been demonstrated to be a drug-related plant that is medicinal and has properties that are incredible”.
He further noted approval received by local scientist, Dr Henry Lowe, from the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to produce a cannabis-based orphan drug, to fight a particular strain of leukaemia.
Mr Shaw made these remarks at the Canadian High Commission in Kingston on Thursday, October 18, two days following Canada’s announcement as he addressed a Promotion of Regional Opportunities for Produce through Enterprise and Linkages (PROPEL)-organised forum under the theme Creating Opportunities: The Promotion of Sustainable Economic Development through Agribusiness for Women and Youth. The forum highlighted the achievements of PROPEL, funded by the Canadian Government, particularly as it related to the involvement of youth and women in agriculture in Jamaica over the past six years.
“On behalf of the Government and farmers of Jamaica, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Canadian Government for its C$100-m funding, which was aimed at facilitating the safe, effective and efficient movement of fresh produce from producers to buyers not only here in Jamaica but also to four of our Caribbean neighbours,” Shaw told participants in the forum.

He said further: “We endorse PROPEL’s initiatives which were undertaken and look forward to even greater collaborations in the future as we strive to increase production of our fresh produce for the local and international markets as well as expansion of our agri-business industry.”

PROPEL partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture on several projects such as the National Irish Potato and Onion Programme, assisting with trials of Irish potato and sweet potato and provision of clean planting material for ginger, among others.
Minister Shaw reported that under the National Irish Potato Programme, grant funding was provided to young people up to 35 years old and women, resulting in a 68% increase production of the tuber by this group. In the 2017/18 crop year 233 hectares of land were planted by 1,263 women and youth compared to 159 hectares of land planted by 350 women and youth in 2016/17.

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