Government Working to Boost Production of Irish Potatoes

Tag : potatoes

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, hasannounced that the Government is seeking to re-generate highproduction of irish potatoes in Jamaica, with assistance fromSpain.
 
Speaking recently at a handing over ceremony for the renovatedDevon Community Centre in Manchester, the Minister noted that thecountry once produced all the irish potatoes that it consumed, andoutlined the imperatives of increasing local production.
"Thirty years ago we were self-sufficient in all the irish potatoesthat we needed to eat. Today we are producing no more that 10 percent of the Irish potatoes that are consumed in Jamaica, I havebeing working with Mr.

Alvin Murray of the Potato GrowersCooperative, the Minister of Agriculture, a number of multilateralinstitutions, and the Ambassador of Spain who has demonstrated aninterest in re-establishing irish potatoes, not only in North EastManchester, but across those hilly areas of Central Jamaica -Manchester, Clarendon, in St. Catherine, and in the hills ofTrelawny and St. Ann. We have at least six parishes where we canproduce Irish potatoes that are better than anything that we areimporting now," Mr. Shaw stated.
 
The Minister expressed his confidence in rural Jamaica's ability toprovide food for the nation's consumption. In this regard he saidthe government is doing all in its power to reduce the price offertilizer.
 
"I believe that the rebirth of Jamaica is going to come from ruralcommunities like Devon, because it is communities like these thatwe have a strong sense of community spirit, it is in thesecommunities that we can thank God and keep a hold of our littlechildren. And so we are working to build the productive capacity ofthese communities, and work with our farmers to create wealth inrural Jamaica and stem the migration to the urban centres," theFinance Minister said.