Holness pushes ‘smarter’ agriculture
INNOVATION AND smarter agriculture is what it will take to solve the problem that climate change is creating, is the solution given by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in his address on the closing day of the 66th staging of the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Clarendon on Monday.
“We need smarter agriculture, and applying technology to agriculture may not necessarily overcome the competitive economies of scale that larger counties have, but it can bring us to a point where agriculture is viable and sustainable,” he said.
ENCOURAGE YOUTH
Holness said the Jamaica Agricultural Society should encourage young people who are overenthused and have an affinity towards technology to get into agriculture, as they will be innovative and create a smarter kind of agriculture that will add more value to the country’s natural resources, thereby increasing the rate of growth in the economy.
Referring to the merger of agriculture with that of commerce, industry and fisheries two years ago, Holness said part of the reason is for agriculture to be seen as more than just a ‘pastime’, but as big business, and it is also the path towards immediate growth for the economy. The prime minister also said he is tired of seeing the samples at Denbigh each year but that it goes no further than that.
“What I want now is for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to take those samples and turn them into commodities that are available on the shelves, not just in Jamaica and Cayman, but the entire region and the world. That is how we add value and grow our economy,” he said.