THE RURAL Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) is encouraging farmers in eastern St. Thomas to produce more cassava as there was a demand for the crop.Speaking recently at an 'assessment forum' in Morant Bay, St. Thomas, Peter Thompson, RADA's deputy parish manager for St. Thomas, said following the destruction of Eastern Estates operated by the Jamaica Producers Group in St. Mary, the company has been making cassava chips.
This new venture, he said, had resulted in a demand for more than 22.69 kilograms of cassava each week.
"We are now purchasing in excess of 50,000 pounds (of cassava) per week to supply to the Jamaica Producers Group," he said.
He said farmers who were producing cassava could contact the RADA office in St. Thomas to make arrangements to have their produce sold to the Jamaica Producers Group.
RESUSCITATION PROGRAMME
Meanwhile, Mr. Thompson said the St. Thomas RADA office has been now working with farmers to "get them back into production". He said the fruit tree crop resuscitation programme in the parish was in progress, and a nursery was being set up at the Bodles Agricultural Station in St. Catherine, where farmers could purchase mature seedlings.
Turning to the registration of farmers, the RADA deputy parish manager disclosed that his office had completed the registration of more than 3,000 farmers who had suffered damage to their crops.
The registration was carried out by 20 temporary field officers assigned to the RADA office by the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR).
At the same time, Mr. Thompson said the registration of farmers under the Agri-Business Information System (ABIS) - an online marketing programme being developed by RADA - was continuing.
