By Ruth Coombs, Gleaner WriterLINSTEAD:
AGRICULTURE MINISTER Roger Clarke said over 200 young people are to be selected for agricultural training. This is in an effort to boost the national production.
The agriculture minister was speaking at the opening of the Agricultural Show and Open Day held at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in Linstead, on Wednesday.
Mr. Clarke said the youth of Jamaica have never regarded agriculture as a viable business. Many remember their parents and grandparents struggling
economically in the farming business.
On the question of mechanical land preparation, the agriculture minister said the Development Bank of Jamaica will be offering a tractor pool service to speed
up land preparation to boost
production.
He said that farmers were
anxious to find out about the water tank programme, which would enable them to install
irrigation systems in dry areas.
He emphasised the need for consistency in supplying hotels with produce. As a result of poor supplies from local farmers, purchasers were compelled to find other markets.
On the question of agricultural wardens to deal with praedial larceny, Minister Clarke said a study will be done with a workable solution as farmers were hard hit by this problem.
