JAMAICA: Grass Piece and Back Street Farm Roads in Manchester Rehabilitated

#Mandeville, December 19, 2022 – Approximately 1.2 kilometres of farm road in Grass Piece and Back Street, Manchester, have been rehabilitated at a cost of $17 million.

The roadways, measuring 0.6 kilometre each, were completed under the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) National Farm Road Rehabilitation Programme.

They were formally opened on Thursday (December 15) by Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr.

Addressing the opening ceremony in Back Street, Mr. Charles said consequent on the roads’ rehabilitation, “we are proud to witness that more than 100 farmers are going to be given the benefit of ease of access [to market for their produce]”.

“I ask that you take care of your roads and understand that as part of the more than 33,000 farmers in Manchester, we are depending on you to make us break those records [for output] year after year,” Mr. Charles said.

He added that residents of the surrounding communities of Bath, Somerset, Wilderness, Huntley, Maidstone, John’s Hall, Glen Head, New Hope, among others, would also benefit from improved roads.

Mr. Charles indicated that $670 million was earmarked to rehabilitate 71 farm roads islandwide during 2022/23.

Against this background, he assured that work will continue to rehabilitate as many roads as possible, to facilitate farmers and other sector stakeholders with ease of access to markets.

Forty-seven-year-old Back Street resident and farmer, Barbara Forbes, welcomed the rehabilitation of the community’s farm road.

She told JIS News about the challenges she experienced getting her produce to market, pointing out that “I carried the load on my head on the bad roads for years.”

“So… words cannot explain what the [upgraded] roads mean to me. I cannot find words to give thanks for it. I am so happy, and I appreciate it, and I hope and wish I will live to see it go through to Somerset, because that would be a shorter journey for us,” Ms. Forbes said.

Meanwhile, on the matter of praedial larceny, Mr. Charles assured farmers who have been victims of thieves that his Ministry was looking to develop a programme that would not only catch those culpable but help the farmers to introduce technology and systems designed to safeguard them and their farms.

Contact: Barbara Ellington

Release: JIS