OCHO RIOS, St Ann:

Jamaica's fruit and vegetable farmers stand to benefit from the launch of the Local Produce Initiative (LPI), a project that will see them growing crops, under contract, for the hotel industry and eventually, the wider market.

The plan, initiated by the Lydford, St Ann-based National Meats and Foods Distributors Limited (NMD), will see farmers being contracted to grow and store crops at NMD under international standards for distribution to the market.

To facilitate the new venture, NMD has more than doubled its warehouse space to near 200,000 square feet. There, farmers' produce will be stored in refrigerated conditions until they are distributed.

"What we are doing at National Meats is creating a linkage between our two major industries, tourism and agriculture. We have teamed up with the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and farmers to create a fully integrated supply chain from production to delivery," said David Phillips, managing director, as he addressed farmers, chefs and ministry representatives at the facility on Monday.

Concerned

Phillips said the move came about as a result of his concern relating to the lack of linkages between the local agricultural sector and the hotel industry. He said after research and dialogue with the parties involved, two reasons were identified for this.

Phillips explained: "Inconsistency with supply availability and the resultant fluctuating prices of local agricultural produce. Production was supply led. A farmer would produce agricultural products that had no relationship with the demand for those products, and we ended up with either famine or feast, which resulted in fluctuating prices," he said.

According to Phillips, inconsistency with quality of product, poor packaging, substandard storage and transportation were also major factors.

In outlining the new plan, Phillips said several small satellite packaging houses would be established close to the farms to ensure the produce did not travel long distances, usually in the back of an open pickup, to a packaging facility.

At the packaging houses, the produce would be graded, cleaned, pre-cooled, packaged and stored under refrigerated conditions.

The cartons will have full traceability in terms of farm, packaging, centre, harvest date and best-by-use date.

Seven different temperature zones

"National Meats will transport the goods in refrigerated trucks from the packaging centres to our facilities where they will be stored in seven different temperature zones, ensuring that each product is stored at its ideal temperature," Phillips said.

Phillips thinks the move will help local farmers as they will now be contracted to grow some vegetables that are usually imported. According to Phillips, this should come on stream in 10 weeks.

Hugh Johnson, a cabbage and pepper farmer from Cave Valley in St Ann, who was one of several farmers displaying their crops at the launch, welcomed the initiative, saying he had been advocating such a system for years.

He also believes farmers will end up getting better prices for their produce as the middle players would be eliminated.

Several chefs from the island's leading hotels, who are members of the Culinary Federation of Jamaica, were also present at the launch.

- Carl Gilchrist