Tweet
Seventy local farmers are on Monday receiving training in rice growing and reaping techniques at the Ministry of Agriculture's 25 acre rice farm at Amity Hall, St. Catherine.
Reaping of the field began last week.
The Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with Jamaica Broilers, established the rice field at Amity Hall in January.
When our News Centre caught up with Permanent Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry Donovan Stanberry on Monday morning he was overseeing reaping at the Amity Hall site.
He told us the farmers would be enrolled in a programme administered by the Ministry.
Under the programme, farmers will grow rice on their own lands with technical support from the ministry.
"So we are demonstrating the reaping, the machines, the drying and the entire process and they are going to be trained in the best practices and so forth. As we speak rice is here packaged by the Jamaica Rice Mill and there are sample bags for people to trade," Mr. Stanberry said.
Mr. Stanberry noted that the strain of rice chosen for commercial production was sourced from the Dominican Republic and has a good yield of up to six tons per hectare.
He said a small portion of the crop reaped from the Amity Hall field will be sold commercially but that the crop is mainly intended to provide seeds for the farmers.
Many of the farmers are ready to begin production and have already cleared lands in preparation for rice planting.
He added that farmers who plant within the next few weeks would be able to reap rice before year end.
The Agriculture Ministry currently has a three year time line to introduce locally grown rice to the market, accounting for 25% of the rice imported to the island.
Jamaicans consume 100,000 tons of imported rice each year.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/19523/26/
Reaping of the field began last week.
The Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with Jamaica Broilers, established the rice field at Amity Hall in January.
When our News Centre caught up with Permanent Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry Donovan Stanberry on Monday morning he was overseeing reaping at the Amity Hall site.
He told us the farmers would be enrolled in a programme administered by the Ministry.
Under the programme, farmers will grow rice on their own lands with technical support from the ministry.
"So we are demonstrating the reaping, the machines, the drying and the entire process and they are going to be trained in the best practices and so forth. As we speak rice is here packaged by the Jamaica Rice Mill and there are sample bags for people to trade," Mr. Stanberry said.
Mr. Stanberry noted that the strain of rice chosen for commercial production was sourced from the Dominican Republic and has a good yield of up to six tons per hectare.
He said a small portion of the crop reaped from the Amity Hall field will be sold commercially but that the crop is mainly intended to provide seeds for the farmers.
Many of the farmers are ready to begin production and have already cleared lands in preparation for rice planting.
He added that farmers who plant within the next few weeks would be able to reap rice before year end.
The Agriculture Ministry currently has a three year time line to introduce locally grown rice to the market, accounting for 25% of the rice imported to the island.
Jamaicans consume 100,000 tons of imported rice each year.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/19523/26/
Comment