Better days are coming for yam farmers - Green

WESTERN BUREAU:

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green says brighter days are on the horizon for the nation’s yam farmers as his ministry is now putting together a scheme to improve their capacity to produce more as part of overall efforts to improve their economic wellbeing.

“We have done some research, and we have crafted a strategy to move yam forward. We have to look at the planting material. We must provide more material, whether it be seeds or tissue culture so that we can increase productivity,” said Green, who was speaking to farmers in Mendez Town, in Trelawny, recently.

According to Green, pivotal to the process is to get the farmers to get better yields from their farms, which will ultimately strengthen their earning capacity and therefore make them better off economically.

“We want you to get more from your acre of yam. We are going to be working with our input providers to provide you with more chemicals and then work with you so that you can get inputs like fertiliser at a reduced cost,” added Green.

The minister said that yam has the potential to become a major earner of foreign exchange, and noted that last year Jamaica earned $43 million from the export of yams.

“It is important that we look towards the future. There is a market of $100 million so we have to plan to maximise our export,” said Green. “We are going to be outlining a youth programme for yam farmers in South Trelawny, so we can cater towards the next generation of yam farmers.”

“Sometimes it is hard for them to start so we are going to give them a start. If you give them a start, they will take it from there, so we are going to come with a starter programme for the young people in South Trelawny,” added Green.

The rehabilitation of the Mendez Town Farm Road, which is strategically located in the heart of the yam producing area in Trelawny, is good news to the farmers as it opens a window of opportunity for buyers to come in, and for farmers to take their produce out of the community via vehicles instead of using farm animals.

“This is the kind of development that is going to make our lives better. This road is the gateway to progress,” said Bryan Frater, an elderly yam farmer. “I would like some of my grand children to follow me into farming as a nation that cannot feed itself cannot see itself as truly independent … we must be able to feed ourselves and farming is key to that.”

“We are living in modern times, and for farming to look attractive to the youngsters, we have to apply modern thinking to how we operate, just having this newly rehabilitated road should tell the youngsters that the Government is prepared to invest in farm communities,” added Frater.

The rehabilitated Mendez Town Farm Road will benefit some 186 households, where some 90 per cent of the occupants are farmers.