News
Friday, August 23, 2013THE Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is aiming to achieve self-sufficiency in onion production by 2015.Speaking on Wednesday at a graduation ceremony for farmers and extension officers on the lawns at his Hope Gardens offices in Kingston, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Roger Clarke stated that “our objective is to produce all the onions we now consume”.In 2012, the minister said Jamaica consumed some 10,298 tonnes of onions, of which only 1,088 tonnes was produced locally with the bulk of 9,210 tonnes being imported.Congratulating the 22 lead farmers from South St Elizabeth and seven extension officers from the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA) on their graduation from the Farmer Field School Training towards Strengthening a National Beet Armyworm Management Programme, Minister Clarke said Jamaica could produce enough onions locally to satisfy national demand.“In spite of the Beet Armyworm,” he said, “we can grow far more onions in Jamaica and so break the vicious cycle of dependence on imported foods.”It was for that reason, he added, that the cultivation of onions in the agro-parks was one of the main strategic objectives and once all the parks are fully operational, the 717 acres earmarked for onion cultivation should eventually yield some 10,605 tonnes.The 22 lead farmers from St Elizabeth and seven RADA facilitators who graduated on Wednesday have been certified as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Farmer Field School Facilitators and are equipped to share knowledge with a wider circle of 150 farmers to identify, manage and control the Beet Armyworm which emerged as a major onion and scallion pest in recent times.The training programme was jointly organised and funded by the ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, RADA, and the United States Agency for International Development under the Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystem Adapting to Climate Change project being implemented by the Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance more commonly known as ACDI/VOCA.— JISOnly 1,088 tonnes of the 10,298 tonnes of onions Jamaicans consumed in 2012 was produced locally.
View the original article here
Clarke sets 2015 target for self-sufficiency in onion production
