Richmond Gap farmers encouraged to get into processing

Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon J.C. Hutchinson, is encouraging farmers in the Richmond Gap community of St. Thomas to reduce the high level of spoilage of fruits in their parish by getting involved in agro processing.
Noting that St. Thomas produced the most fruits in Jamaica, Minister Hutchinson made reference to the large number of mangoes that were strewn along the roadside leading to the community and challenged members of the Richmond Gap Production and Marketing Organisation to see this as a business opportunity. The minister encouraged the group to establish a HACCP-certified processing facility where the mangoes as well as other fruits could be processed into juices and sold to the schools as a replacement for bag juice.
Minister Hutchinson was addressing farmers in the Richmond Gap community in St. Thomas at an Agricultural Development Stakeholders Forum held on August 21. He reiterated Government’s commitment to work along with farm groups to assist them in achieving their agricultural endeavours.
The minister also encouraged the farmers to work along with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to set up demonstration plots at primary schools where they could learn new technologies in growing crops. Produce from these plots, Minister Hutchinson said, could then be used as part of the schools’ breakfast programmes.
RADA Parish Manager, Bevene Martin-Dickenson, outlined that some 285 hectares of crops, including mango, ackee, apple, Irish potato, gungo, banana, plantain, scallion, carrot and coffee, are produced in the Cedar Valley extension area of which Richmond Gap is a part.
Farmers were also encouraged to get in touch with RADA in order to become a part of the Ministry’s Irish Potato and Onion Programme, two of the main crops which are currently being prioritised by the Government, in pursuit of its import substitution efforts.
Minister Hutchinson also identified castor bean and bamboo as two other crops which are to come on board shortly, noting that there was a Chinese investor who has expressed interest in setting up a factory in Jamaica to produce bamboo products.