CLARKE (right) Alarmed at the persistent decline in beef and dairy production, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke on Wednesday announced several measures to arrest the decline.
Speaking in the 2007/2008 Budget Debate, the Agriculture Minister said lands have been identified at Amity Hall for the possible establishment of a slaughtering and meat processing facility. He said this would be part of a model to be developed by the Development Bank of Jamaica.
Additionally, he disclosed that the ministry will be implementing a Heifer Rescue Programme this year, while "substantially" improving the Minard research facility, specifically in respect of the pasture and reinstatement of performance testing.
The artificial insemination programme will be made more accessible to farmers, leading to quicker multiplication of animals, he said.
Furthermore, the minister announced, the Food and Agricultural Organisation will be collaborating with the Jamaican Government in a market study of Jamaican beef and dairy genetics.
Agri Minister announces major plans for sugar
Proclaiming that "the future is bright and sweet" for the sugar cane industry, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke on Wednesday announced a broad range of initiatives valued at more than $740 million to resuscitate the industry and make it more attractive for divestment.
Mr. Clarke, speaking in the 2007/2008 Budget Debate, said there had been a renewal of interest in the privatisation process. This he attributed in part to the recent surge of interest in ethanol production as a fuel substitute, with sugar being a major feed stock for this fuel. Jamaica, he said, was in an advantageous position, being part of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which affords it favourable market access in the United States.
Accordingly, he expressed confidence that a successful investor "with the expertise and resources to seize these opportunities" will be identified, shortly.
Against that background, he said the Government had developed several strategies to enhance sugar cane production and productivity, ahead of the privatisation of public assets in the industry.
Strategies
Among those strategies is the provision of $250 million in loans to cane farmers to resuscitate and replant 18,450 hectares, from European Union disbursements this year. Mr. Clarke said Government would also provide further subsidies this year worth $382 million to cane farmers through public irrigation, as well as make $50 million in grants available to assist with fertiliser procurement, in light of the huge increases in price since December.
Even without the privatisation and the new investments from that initiative, the Agriculture Minister spoke with bullish enthusiasm about the prospects of the local sugar industry. So confident is the Jamaican Government, he said, that it was looking to secure a portion of the 15,000 tonnes in the European Market relinquished by St. Kitts Nevis, which recently closed its sugar industry. Similarly, he said Jamaica was seeking a portion of the European quota that will be given up shortly by Trinidad & Tobago.
Jamaica produced 147,000 tonnes of sugar from 1.7 million tonnes of cane last year. Of that amount, the country exported 121 tonnes of sugar to Europe and 14 tonnes to the United States. The industry is expected to produce 154,000 tonnes of sugar this year.
