Mr. Gerd Jarshow (seated right), Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Jamaica, presents a copy of the J$278.9 million financing agreement for the local banana industry to Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke for him to sign. Looking on are Rafael Jover, (right), Spanish Ambassador, and Dr. Christian Hausmann, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany. The signing took place yesterday at the Ministry of Agriculture, Old Hope Road, St. Andrew. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer THE STRUGGLING banana sector yesterday received J$278.9 million (4.7 million euros) in financing from the European Union-funded Banana Export Programme.
The agreement will fund the upgrading of access roads to farms and the improvement of flood protection structures as well as an Export Banana Certification Programme.
Roger Clarke, the Agriculture Minister, and Gerd Jarshow, Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Jamaica, signed off on the grant at a ceremony at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, St. Andrew.
The agreement, the fourth of its kind, brings the total value of assistance from the EU to 20.3 million euros.
Mr Clarke said the agreement would also facilitate the application of research in banana production and the development of a plantain diversification programme to assist banana farmers who can no longer meet the changing requirements of the global export market.
"JUST IN TIME"
The grant had come "just in time," he said, to facilitate the training of banana estate workers in business management and marketing techniques.
The EU Programme concentrates in the traditional banana producing parishes of St. Mary, St. Thomas, Portland and rural St. Andrew.
Mr. Jarchow noted that the European community was committed to assisting with the banana industry not only because the sector was the second largest employer in the country, but also because its export was the fourth most important earner of foreign exchange.
Mr. Jarchow said the financing agreement further promoted sustainable development living standards of farmers and their communities in the five traditional banana-producing parishes.
