Lead Stories

Laura Redpath, Senior Staff Reporter

THE MINISTRY of Agriculture and Fisheries has pledged to plant 2,000 hectares (nearly 5,000 acres) of rice, expanding on the growth in the industry which has already seen plots developed in Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Clarendon and St Catherine.

In assisting in the venture, China, through its Ambassador Chen Jinghua, yesterday presented the ministry with equipment valued at more than $60 million.

The Jamaican Government had requested the equipment through an agreement on economic and technical cooperation.

"Technology has changed, research has changed and we don't want to try to do the same thing we did 20-25 years ago," Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said during the handover ceremony at the Agro-Investment Corporation in Kingston.

Five-year period

Plans to redevelop the rice industry came as a result of 2008's food crisis, which forced the Government to explore new avenues to feed the nation.

According to the ministry, the strategic plan outlining the development resulted in 71.5 hectares of land being planted on with roughly 12 farmers cultivating the rice crop.

There are now eight potential investors who are also interested in the rice crop and land on which to plant it.

The Government's aim is to replace a quarter of the total rice imports with local produce, over a five-year period.

Job creation

Tufton estimated that the annual cost of the import bill ranges between US$30 and $40 million, accommodating approximately 100,000-120,000 tonnes of rice consumed by the Jamaican population.

"I had a food-import bill of $800 million last year. Forty million out of that is a fairly substantial percentage of the overall for one product," he said, while making note of the opportunity to create more jobs for traditional rice farmers.

A St Elizabeth rice farmer, Anderson Jumi, said he felt good about the presentation made by the Chinese government.

"The (Jamaican) government means business," Jumi said. "This is a full force of equipment to start with. This is a start."

Jumi said he was not worried about supplying the market in the future as it was already in place due to rice being a staple in the Jamaican diet.

"Rice is a logical choice," Tufton said. "I don't know a Jamaican who doesn't eat rice. If there are, they are very few."

laura.redpath@gleanerjm.com