- Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, (right) speaking with Paulino Guiterrez, Caribbean representative for Bayer Crop Science at the launch of the Antilles Chemical Company/Bayer Crop Science Bayer product line of agro-chemicals at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Thursday.
The following are excerpts from the speech made by Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, at the launch of the Bayer line of pesticides at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston on Thursday.
CURRENTLY, THE Pesticide Control Authority is embarking on a programme, which will require farmers to be certified in order to purchase restricted chemicals. I am, therefore, making a special appeal to all input suppliers, to follow the example set by Antilles (Chemicals), of collaboration with the Ministry and stakeholders in the sector. I urge you to work with our research and development division and extension service provider, RADA, in the hosting of field days and seminars to allow farmers' groups one-to-one interaction on proper pesticide usage.
Statistics show that more than eighty per cent of the food consumed locally is produced by small farmers; and while the Ministry continues to urge them to pool their production, input suppliers should also try to accommodate this group, by packaging pesticides in more affordable quantities.
The issue of Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM), which is being lauded internationally as the "best crop protection strategy of the future", has been high on the Ministry of Agriculture's agenda.
We have adopted a holistic approach to pest management, through the development of a national policy, involving the use of biological control methods in a range of crops, including coffee, pepper and vegetables. The Ministry continues to promote this approach, through on-going research and the transfer of technology to the farming community through its extension service provider, RADA, in an effort to reduce the reliance on harmful pesticides.
SECURED FUNDING
Given our limited resources, my Ministry has secured funding from the European Union and USAID, for the establishment of routine pest and pesticide surveillance programmes, which are administered through RADA, in order to ensure compliance with the WTO agreement on sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures.
To this end, although to date there has been no evidence of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly in Jamaica, based on the potential devastation it could wreak on local fruit and vegetable production, we continue to monitor farm holdings islandwide, in the event that the pest should enter the country.
Additionally, we have been proactive in securing funding through the Caribbean Development Bank in the sum of $1.97 million, to improve our surveillance infrastructure in the areas of farmer training in Integrated Pesticide Management and post-harvest technology. We are also putting in place a framework to trace the source of disease and pest-infested produce, back to the farms of origin, to allow us to apply the necessary corrective measures.
In closing, I would like to congratulate Antilles for re-introducing the Bayer Product line of agro-chemicals into Jamaica. As a sugarcane farmer in my own right, I noted with interest that your company proposes to introduce new formulations in the Bayer Line, in an attempt to control resistant weed types in sugarcane and other crops.
On behalf of the community of farmers islandwide I, therefore, wish you success in this new partnership and I look forward to your initiatives to enhance the National Integrated Pest Management Programme.
