By Rayon Dyer, Gleaner Writer 
Pumpkin is one of the flavours to be extracted and sold once the flavour extraction machine is acquired. – File
BLACK RIVER:
Seymour Simpson, Vice Chairman of the St. Elizabeth/Manchester Vegetable Growers Association, says that a flavour extraction machine, which was ordered by the association from Flavour Tech, Australia, should be in the island by July 31.
Speaking in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday, Mr. Simpson said that the equipment will be used to extract flavours from watermelon, beetroot, pumpkins, papaya, escallion and thyme, among others, for the export market.
"There is a lucrative market in Europe to which we will be exporting the flavours of most of the fruits and vegetables that we produce in South St. Elizabeth," Mr. Simpson said. "The cost of the equipment will be borne by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this institution will take care of 70 per cent of the cost, while the remaining 30 per cent will be taken care of by the Government of Jamaica."
CANNOT WAIT
"We cannot wait for this machine to come into the island, because it would help to ease the chronic marketing problem we, as farmers, have been facing over the years. I think it will also help us to save the enormous amount of farm products that go to waste each year", said Claude Taylor, another member of the association.
He said that as farmers, they have been lobbying for the flavour extraction machine for the longest while. "I can assure you that when the equipment arrives, the farmers of the area would be taking a different approach to local farming," Mr Taylor stressed.
The association's vice chairman also noted that the interest of all the farmers would be protected as it related to the processing of their fruits and vegetables.
