Minister urges support for farmers

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green is encouraging Jamaicans to support local farmers by eating Jamaican produce all year round.

Green said the pandemic brought into sharp focus the importance of investing in the agricultural sector by supporting local farmers and fishermen.

“During COVID-19, one of the fundamental questions was ‘Will we be able to feed ourselves?’ People never thought that the world could close its borders, and that’s what happened; and, automatically, everybody started to think about their own food security,” he said. “Now, the only way we’ll be able to effectively feed ourselves is if we consistently encourage our farmers and fishers; that’s what eating Jamaican is about. It’s about going out and making the right decisions to support your own by ensuring there is a demand.”

Green said consuming local food is more beneficial to the population, both economically and physically.

“When we consume imported food, we don’t know the process it’s been through, we don’t know what they’ve used largely to preserve it. It’s not as fresh, and fresh is always best,” he said.

He noted that the ministry is focused on gaining self-sufficiency in Irish potato and onion production.

“We do prioritise things like Irish potato, where we are trying to meet 100 per cent of the demand. We have prioritised onions, as over the years we’ve consumed a lot of onions per capita. We are now up to about 30 per cent of our local consumption, and we want to get to about 100 per cent over the next three to four years,” he said.