Farmers, technicians get training to respond to changing climate
Published:Monday | March 6, 2023 | 12:32 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
In an effort to improve decision-making on farms and boost the engagement of best practices, 16 agricultural extension officers and other key stakeholders in the sector were enrolled in a five-day training course dubbed Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA).
The five-day workshop, which was held at the Twickenham Park Training Facility in St Catherine, comes one month after a preparatory scoping exercise was conducted for shareholders, which outlined the project, its aims, the PICSA approach, and its proposed adaptation and implementation in Jamaica.
Chief technical officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Courtney Cole, who addressed the participants at the closing ceremony on Friday, said it is imperative that agricultural stakeholders have access to accurate weather information so that they can plan well.
“Over the past three years, hydrometeorological events have cost Jamaica approximately $3 million in losses, impacting 14,000 hectares of crops,” Cole revealed.
“Climate change is affecting agriculture in various ways, and it is important that farmers adopt practices to mitigate the risk of crop failure, food insecurity, and financial losses,” the chief technical officer stated.
He noted that against the backdrop of Jamaica not seeing any significant rainfall since 2022, weather stations can provide the necessary data for farmers to make informed decisions and adopt climate-smart practices.
Cole praised the agricultural sector for contributing eight per cent of the 5.1 per cent growth in the economy, adding that it was achieved under the rubric of ‘Eat What We Grow and Grow What We Eat’.
The workshop explored the link between climate services and agricultural extension.
In highlighting benefits of the workshop, Donovan Edwards, a Rural Agricultural Development Authority extension farmer from St Elizabeth, pointed to the visual skills he obtained from the participatory approach.
He said that having been exposed to climate variability, forecasting, and probability, the training has proven very valuable.
Sharlene Edwards, 4-H Clubs regional manager from the eastern region, said that among the most significant highlights for her were the coming together of the different agencies and the methodology and content delivery.
“It made this workshop so interesting, where instead of seeing information and figures on charts, we were seeing pictures that helped us to quickly understand the content,” she told The Gleaner.
Further implementation of the PICSA approach in Jamaica will be directed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries through RADA.
The workshop was part of a four-year project funded by the European Union.