Freddie Pragnell, Gleaner Writer

Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton (left) laughs with Denis Kingsley, Canadian high commissioner to Jamaica, and Cynthia Currie, representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, after the three signed a letter of intent for a productivity-driving project. The signing took place at the Canadian High Commission in St Andrew on Tuesday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Jamaica's farmers and fishermen are to benefit from a project which will stimulate domestic agriculture to a state of sustainability.

The project, named 'Improving Jamaica's Agricultural Productivity', is aimed at improving fishing practices and greenhouse farming.

Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, Canadian High Commissioner Denis Kingsley and Cynthia Currie, a representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, signed a letter of intent for the project Tuesday at the Canadian High Commission.

Tufton has often highlighted Jamaica's dependence on foreign imports which has significantly hurt the domestic market.

Deliberate steps

"The coming on stream of this project is indeed timely, as the sector faces the challenges of declining productivity, poised against the rapidly increasing cost of imported staples," the minister said in his address at the conference.

"In the light of these realities, the Ministry of Agriculture is taking deliberate steps to reverse this decline, by using a value-chain approach, through targeted production and technology-driven productivity-improvement strategies, together with market development focused on our existing agro-processing and agro-tourism linkages," Tufton added.

The agriculture minister said the project was geared towards achieving the Government's development objectives in the fisheries and hospitality subsectors.

The project, which will be spearheaded by the IICA, is being funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). CIDA is providing $350 million to the project.

Major aims

Increasing the productivity levels of small-scale greenhouse producers to meet the demands of the hospitality and retail markets.

Rehabilitating basic infrastructure and improving the fishing and environmental practices of fisherfolk.