Roger Clarke, Minister of Agriculture and Land, making his contribution to the 2006/2007 Budget Debate at Gordon House last Thursday. In background is Richard Azan, Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Water, Transportation and Works. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
NEARLY 3,000 hectares of farmlands are expected to have access to irrigation as the Ministry of Agriculture and Land spends more than $2 billion to put into operation seven irrigation schemes over the next five years.
Minister of Agriculture and Land Roger Clarke, in his contribution to the 2006/07 budget debate in Parliament last Thursday, announced that five irrigation schemes in Yallahs, St. Thomas; New Forrest/Duff House, Manchester; Colbeck and St. Dorothy, St. Catherine and Essex Valley, St. Elizabeth are to be built and rehabilitated at a cost of $1.5 billion. Some 1,700 hectares of farmlands are to have access to irrigation upon completion of these projects.
The Pedro Plains and Seven Rivers Projects are to bring irrigation to over 500 hectares of additional lands when completed. The Pedro Plains Project is expected to be completed in August while the one in Seven Rivers is scheduled for completion by the end of the financial year. These two irrigation projects have been estimated to increase agricultural production by over half billion dollars and create more than 200 new jobs for people in the respective areas, Minister Clarke said.
According to the Minister, this would result in substantial increases in the production of export crops such as thyme, pepper, pumpkin, citrus, sweet potato and dasheen. He said this increase in production would be augmented with technical and marketing support by agribusiness development officers from the Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP).
ESTIMATED INCREASE
Mr. Clarke said the Hounslow Rehabilitation Project is to be started by the end of this quarter. This is estimated to increase the area of lands under irrigation by another 486 hectares. He noted that this would create some 225 full-time jobs and increase the earnings of farmers in the area by a net $31.4 million.
The Ministry's three flagship projects: Pedro Plains, Seven Rivers and Hounslow are to cost nearly $800 million.
The irrigation projects form part of the National Irrigation Development Plan, which aims to increase access to irrigation by 60 per cent up to 2015. About 25,000 hectares of lands currently have access to irrigation. It is expected to cost an estimated US$106.3 million ($6.9 billion) over the period. A total of 51 projects are to be implemented under the plan.
"This Government, cognisant of the crucial role of agricultural production in our economic development strategy - and the criticality of irrigation to the expansion of agricultural production - has been consciously, deliberately and systematically implementing this master plan," Mr. Clarke told Parliament.
