Invest more in idle lands – Shaw.
NEW MINISTER of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw has reiterated calls for Jamaicans to invest more in farming on idle lands across the island.
Speaking at the St Mary AgriExpo at the Gray’s Inn sports complex, Annotto Bay, St Mary, on Monday, Shaw said more investments from Jamaicans are needed in the agricultural sector, “So that we can ensure food security and decrease our importation to satisfy the demands of our local market.
“In Jamaica, we are too blessed with so many acres of idle lands. We have got to put them into production,” the minister emphasised.
“I am tired to see idle lands [of which] a lot was in sugar, and all over the world sugar is a declining business, but even in sugar, we can rationalise our sugar lands and make them produce more efficiently while we make other lands available for use,” he added.
The minister pointed out that numerous hectares of idle lands already have irrigation, which investors will not have to worry about before planting.
SETTING UP SMALL GARDENS
“Plenty of the idle lands are between St Catherine and Clarendon. There are 18,000 hectares that are idle, and 70 per cent already has irrigation,” he noted.
Shaw also called on more Jamaicans to set up small gardens in their backyards, as is done in other developed and developing nations.
“Last week, I went to a conference in Argentina in a place called Mendoza, and when I was flying across the South American continent (Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina), all I could see is production. Everywhere, something was being produced, whether grapes or corn ... . Where you don’t see crops growing, you see cattle. When I fly over Jamaica, I am tired to see idle lands,” he said.
Shaw pointed out that countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic export a lot of fresh vegetables and processed foods to the United States, and Jamaica needs to do more of this.
The St Mary agricultural show was being held for the 32nd year, under the theme ‘Climate Smart Agriculture, the Key to Food Security’.
Annually, the event is hosted to bring together farmers from the parish of St Mary, neighbouring parishes and other stakeholders together, where ideas for innovation are shared, along with the introduction of new technology, which they can incorporate into their practice.
CONTRARY TO what others have been saying about his reassignment, Government minister Audley Shaw says the decision by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to move him from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to the Ministry of Industry, Investment Commerce and Agriculture was more of a promotion than a demotion.
Shaw, who was speaking at the 2018 Montpelier Agricultural and Industrial Show in St James on Monday, actually labelled those persons who were treating his switch from finance to agriculture as a drop down the ladder as “troublemakers”.
“Having piloted the Government’s ship to achieve macro-economic stability through fiscal consolidation and with all the macroeconomic variables pointing in one direction, I now lead the charge for economic growth, which is the greatest imperative for this Government,” said Shaw, in explaining his move to the agriculture ministry.
“Goods are coming down, unemployment coming down, interest rate coming down,” said Shaw. “... And so, I accept this new charge from the prime minister, and we look forward to working with you, and seek your cooperation, as we seek to make a better life for our farmers across Jamaica.”