SHAW HAS BIG PLANS FOR IDLE SUGAR LANDS

ST CATHERINE, Clarendon, and Trelawny are the parishes where sugar land has been identified for divestment in the first phase of a plan by the Government to put thousands of idle acres into crop production, according to Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw.

ST CATHERINE, Clarendon, and Trelawny are the parishes where sugar land has been identified for divestment in the first phase of a plan by the Government to put thousands of idle acres into crop production.

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw on Wednesday announced the rationale behind efforts to fasttrack the diversification of state-owned land under the auspices of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) Holdings, the entity responsible for divesting five sugar factories and six estates formerly owned and operated by Government.

“We know that we can no longer rely on any one or two main crops. We know about sugar. I met with the Sugar Company Holdings of Jamaica yesterday, and next week, I am getting the final rationalisation plan from them for lands particularly in St Catherine, in Clarendon, in Trelawny, and what I can say is that there is a lot of excitement out there,” Shaw told a Jamaica Country Forum stakeholders’ meeting at the Medallion Hall Hotel, St Andrew.

“While we have thousands and thousands of acres of idle arable land, you know what the good news is? We have hundreds of applications from farmers and companies who want land to produce other things. Some want to produce vegetables, onions, sweet corn, and (West Indian) Sea Island cotton. With castor beans that grow wild, we need to grow it as an industrial crop. I’ve just identified 2,000 acres of land in the Mitchell Town area of Clarendon we’re gonna put straight into castor bean production. I met with the castor bean association recently (and) they want land. They’re gonna get land.”