#Kingston, March 26, 2019 – Jamaica – Some 5,000 farmers from the parishes of St. Thomas, St. Mary and Portland are to benefit from a €400,000 (J$5.6-million) project, aimed at increasing their capacity to implement climate-smart agricultural practices.
Dubbed, ‘Accelerating
the Uptake of Climate-smart Agriculture in Jamaica’, the project is to
strengthen the resilience to climate extremes and improve agricultural
productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers in Jamaica through the
promotion of widespread adoption of
climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices that are most aligned with national
policy priorities.
The project is being
funded by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA),
based in the Netherlands.
Chief Executive
Officer, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Peter Thompson said increased adoption of climate-smart agricultural
practices in those parishes is critical and will guide farmers in using best
practices for farming.
He was speaking to JIS News during the National Conference
on ‘Accelerating the Application of Climate-smart Agriculture Innovations
and/or Technologies’, at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on March 25.
Mr.
Thompson said while the bulk of the island’s production is from the parishes of
St. Elizabeth, Manchester and Trelawny, the targeted parishes have also
contributed significantly to the sector.
“When
we look at the three regions, St. Mary to a lesser extent, we see the state of
degradation in those parishes – slash and burn, malpractices on the steep
hillsides and continuous bush fires during periods of drought. We need to
educate farmers that bush fires should not be used as a means of clearing land
for production, because you destroy the biological agents in the soil that help
in the building of the soil for it to be more fertile,” he said.
Mr.
Thompson encouraged farmers to utilise methods such as contour cropping, and barrier
farming, which will serve as a protector to soil movement.
Mr.
Thompson noted that climate change is
threatening the food security in the country, and so farmers need to be
properly educated to address the issues.
“What we are trying
to do is to educate the farmers on how to be more resilient, so we take into
consideration their knowledge and how to go forward with that knowledge in
terms of implementing strategies,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senior
Director, Adaptation, Climate Change Division, Ministry of Economic Growth and
Job Creation, Le-Anne Roper, said the programme is building the capacity of the
farmers.
“The farmers will
also be trained to better use information and communication technology and to
innovate in their practices,” she said.
Climate-smart
agriculture has been developed as an approach to attain ‘triple wins’ in
agriculture, through increased agricultural productivity, adaptation
(supporting crops and livestock to grow in changing climatic conditions) and
mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions where possible).
Contact: Chris Patterson
Release: JIS
Photographer: Adrian Walker
Header: Chief Executive Officer, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Peter Thompson, in discussion with Senior Director, Adaptation, Climate Change Division, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Le-Anne Roper, during the National Conference on ‘Accelerating the Application of Climate-smart Agriculture Innovations and/or Technologies’, at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston, on March 25.
Insert: Chief Executive Officer, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Peter Thompson (left), listens keenly to Senior Director, Technology, Training and Technical Information, RADA, Winston Shaw, during the National Conference on ‘Accelerating the Application of Climate-smart Agriculture Innovations and/or Technologies’, at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston, on March 25.