Jamaica’s first freshwater fish agro park to be established in Clarendon - Green

An agro park to produce freshwater fish will be established in the coastal community of Mitchell Town in southern Clarendon, says Floyd Green, minister of agriculture, fisheries and mining.

“We're going to embark on our first ever freshwater fish agro park; so, it will be an aqua-park. What it means is, just as you can go to an agro park and you can rent the infrastructure, you will be able to do that, and we've identified lands in Mitchell Town,” he said.

Minister Green was addressing the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday, where he outlined plans to boost the production of tilapia to meet the increase in demand for freshwater fish.

An agro park refers to a dedicated area of land designed for intensive agricultural production, where all aspects of the farming process, from land preparation and irrigation to harvesting and marketing, are integrated within a single location, often with government support and collaboration between farmers and investors.

An investment of $574 million has been made in the construction of a tilapia hatchery in Twickenham Park, St Catherine to provide quality breeding stock.

“We're seeing a clear resurgence of our freshwater fish, especially since COVID-19. The demand for freshwater fish, especially tilapia, has really gone through the roof, and we're looking to facilitate that. How we're doing that is to expand our hatchery. So, we are the ones who supply the seed stock to the industry,” Green said.

He pointed out that Jamaica now produces one million advanced fry per year but with the multi-million-dollar investment in the tilapia hatchery, production will increase to five million advanced fry each year.

He said the ministry is also looking to revitalise tilapia export.

“You rightly outlined that decades ago, largely led by one private sector entity, we used to do a fair amount of export. Unfortunately, when that private sector entity came out, we did go through some abeyance,” he said, in response to a question from Member of Parliament for St. Catherine Southern, Fitz Jackson.

The ministry, in collaboration with the National Fisheries Authority launched a ‘Tilapia Takeover’ campaign on February 27, to highlight the versatility of the fish and to provide meal preparation tips to unlock the taste and flavour.

- JIS News

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