Roger Clarke (second left), Minister of Agriculture and Lands, samples ripe bananas on display at the European Union Banana Support Programme booth at the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show in May Pen, Clarendon Saturday. Also among those sampling the fruit: Victor Cummings (left), State Minister for Agriculture and Lands; Senator Norman Grant (third left), president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), and Neletha Butterfield (third right), Bermuda's Minister of Environment. Monserrat's Minister of Agriculture, Magaret Dyer Howe, (second left background) and the Jamaica 4-H Club's executive director, Lenworth Fulton, (background centre) look on. -
Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer
Denbigh, Clarendon:
Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke said Saturday there was potential for the agricultural sector, which has suffered severely from heavy rains in the last year, to earn billions from the production of selected crops that are in high demand on the international market.
Speaking on the opening day of the 53rd annual Denbigh Agri-
cultural and Industrial Show at the Denbigh Showgrounds in May Pen, Clarendon, Minister Clarke said the potential of the sector to generate such revenues existed in the production of organic foods, which is estimated to be worth about US$30 million; ornamental horticulture, which is worth an estimated US$16 billion; ornamental fish production, which has the potential to earn between US$200 million and US$300 million; as well as in the production of herbs and spices in demand by the rapidly expanding Nutraceutical market, estimated to be worth about US$57 billion.
Root crops
He said there was also potential for 'new export opportunities for a number of varieties of root crops' that are opening up due to increased demand for such products in the growing ethnic markets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. This is in addition to opportunities for expansion in the rearing of small ruminants, such as goats and bee rearing for honey production. According to Mr. Clarke, the honey industry is worth an estimated $175 million.
On-farm employment
The Agriculture Minister argued that 'rising productivity and
profitability from agriculture would provide more on-farm employment, thereby raise the purchasing power of rural Jamaicans and, in the process, stimulating greater demand for manufactured goods.' This, he said, would spur 'the growth of industries, including those of food processing, food distribution, manufacturing, tourism and transport".
In the meantime, Mr. Clarke expressed satisfaction with the support farmers have given to the show, despite the difficulties. He noted that the 'sector has been facing a number of major challenges, primarily due to agricultural trade liberalisation, stringent food safety measures and natural disasters which have been issued in what is arguably the most interesting, yet tumultuous time in our farming history".
He said: "Denbigh's increasing popularity over the years only serves to highlight the fact that agriculture, which is traditionally the backbone of our economy, continues to attract much interest from a wide cross-section of the Jamaican population.'
