Category Archives: News

President, MSME Alliance, Donovan Wignal (left); and chairman, National Development Foundation of Jamaica (NDFJ), Dalma James (right), shake hands after signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the NDFJ and the MSME Alliance, at the offices of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries in New Kingston, on Thursday, June 22, 2017. Looking on isContinue reading “Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between NDFJ and the MSME Alliance”

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Karl Samuda has announced that there are no plans to ban meat products from Brazil at this time. His announcement follows news that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has suspended the importation of all fresh beef from Brazil following safety concerns. Minister Samuda, who wasContinue reading “US Ban on Brazilian Beef Won’t Affect Local Market”

Effective Saturday, July 1, 2017, the new labelling, packaging and food safety requirements for brown and granulated sugar will become mandatory for pre-packaged sugar and will be implemented across the entire island of Jamaica. This means that all pre-packaged sugar available to the retail trade must now be appropriately labelled. This is intended to ensureContinue reading “Compliance with the Revised Sugar Standard JS:102 to become effective July 1”

Deputy Superintendent of Police Kevin Francis (right), head of the Praedial Larceny Prevention Unit at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF), discusses the various strategies being employed by the Unit to reduce praedial larceny with the Hon J.C. Hutchinson (2nd right), Minister without Portfolio, MICAF; at the launch of the Moneague, Grierfield,Continue reading “Minster Hutchinson launches Moneague, Grierfield, Gibraltar Anti-Praedial Larceny Initiative”

Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Furche, has expressed the hope of exploring increased bilateral relations with Jamaica in the area of agriculture. The Minister shared his thoughts with Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF), the Hon William J.C. Hutchinson during, a courtesy call at MICAF’s Hope Gardens Offices onContinue reading “Chile and Jamaica to explore possible bilateral relations on agriculture”

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Stephen Wedderburn, has urged MSMES to use IP assets for growth and development. Mr. Wedderburn says that Jamaica’s growth policies and plans, consistently identify the Small Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) using IP assets as engines of growth. This, he says, has allowed themContinue reading “MSMEs urged to use Intellectual Property assets for growth”

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF) is encouraging all food-exporting producers, especially those involved in exports, to become HACCP certified. This will enable Jamaica’s food-producing businesses to access export markets, as lack of certification could constitute non-tariff barriers to exports. Speaking on behalf of the Hon Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Commerce,Continue reading “Industry Ministry encourages producers to become HACCP-certified”

Chairman, Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), Simon Roberts (3rd right), presents accreditation certificate for the ISO 15189 Accreditation to technical manager, Microbiology Department, University of the West Indies (UWI), Prof. Monica Smikle. Looking on (from left) are head of the Microbiology Department, UWI, Dr. Alison Nicholson; chief executive officer, JANAAC, Sharonmae Shirley; and chairman,Continue reading “World Accreditation Day 2017”

As part of its continuing implementation of the National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS), the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF) has intensified its national appeal to cattle farmers to ensure that their bovine animals are tagged. The ‘Tag It and Trace It’ media campaign, launched this month, is the latest inContinue reading “Ministry urges farmers to “tag and trace” cattle”

Hon J.C. Hutchinson, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, has called on stakeholders in the agricultural sector to integrate greater use of technology in their farming operations as they seek to grasp the available opportunities in the sector. He was speaking at the H&L Agro Syngenta Customer Appreciation LuncheonContinue reading “Hutchinson calls for greater integration of technology in agriculture”