Tufton sees room for agri-products export growth
Published:Friday | December 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The export complex at the Norman Manley Inter-national Airport run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has added capacity so that producers wanting to grow their exports will have access to a facility capable of handling higher volumes.
The agriculture sector produced J$106 billion worth of goods last year, up 12 per cent over 2008, said Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who argued that inside those numbers was scope to improve on cross-border trade.
Peppers, spices, root crops and other produce, he said, are being supplied in volumes too large for Jamaicans to consume.
"One of the big challenges, therefore, is that we have to look at the range of markets that are available to us, and to see how we expand; to supply those who may want and have the purchasing power to support what we have to offer," he said.
The export centre - a phytosanitary inspection and certification facility run by manager Sylvester Christie - is now 7,000 square feet.
The added 3,200 square footage was a J$75-million investment.
"Part of the mission of the Government, and certainly this ministry, is to expand what we have," said Tufton at Tuesday's commissioning. "Our mission is to grow more, to create more opportunities for our farmers, and to ensure that we feed more consumers, and those consumers have to go beyond Jamaica, because there is a limit to the marketplace here in Jamaica."
The Plant Quarantine/Produce Inspection Branch, a unit of the agriculture ministry, has direct responsibility for the centre, whose services include cold storage and cargo handling. The facility opened 27 years ago, in 1983, but Plant Quarantine only took over in 2001.
Some 23 million kilograms of agricultural produce has reportedly passed through the complex in the past five years of operation, earning close to J$105 million in user fees.