Infrastructure Development
• Installation of new solar panels at the Beacon E pump station in St. Elizabeth by the National Irrigation Commission (NIC)
• A new pumping station, and ramp was commissioned in Clarks Town, Trelawny by the NIC.
• Rehabilitation of 350-metre farm road in Spring Garden, near Bamboo, St. Ann, at a cost of $9 million
• New communal milking parlours opened for dairy farmers in Hillside, St. Thomas.
• $24 million was provided to help build out a tunnel house for chickens at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE).
• Some $20 million was also provided to construct goat houses, and work was done on the institution’s piggery.
Equipment
• Six new farm tractors, valued approximately $49.7 million, were presented to Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to bolster agricultural activities in six high-producing parishes – St. Thomas, St. Ann, St. Elizabeth, Clarendon, Manchester, and St. Catherine.
• Farmers in Clarks Town, Trelawny benefit from new water truck.
Building Capacity
• Local farmers benefited from improved access to RADA extension services with the launch of the entity’s first ever mobile application (app)
• 15 farmers and four government officers participated in sustainable hydroponics production systems training, under the ‘Addressing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus’ (WEF) Project
• 172 farmers from St. Ann, the majority being women, graduated from a Farmer Field School training programme
• 24 per cent of lands in agro-parks were occupied by young farmers, surpassing the Ministry’s target of 20 per cent.
• Scores of small ruminant farmers benefited from a parasite-control training session to bolster their activities and help Jamaica move closer to its food-security goals.