Costa Rica To Teach
Jamaica Greenhouse
Technology
A dozen agricultural
extension officers from
Jamaica will be going to
Costa Rica next month
for training in
greenhouse technology.
This comes courtesy of a
technical cooperation
agreement between
Jamaica and the Inter
American Institute for
Cooperation on
Agriculture (IICA),
signed last week in
Costa Rica.
Agriculture Minister
Christopher Tufton, who
signed the agreement on
Jamaica's behalf, said
those trained in Costa
Rica will in turn share
the expertise gained
with local farmers.
Jamaica has been on a
drive to substantially
increase the acreage of
farming using greenhouse
technology, and
according to the
agriculture minister,
this Costa Rican
initiative will boost
such efforts.
In a further development
along those lines, Dr
Tufton revealed that an
agreement was also
reached last week with
technical experts in
Spain who will be
assisting Jamaica in the
construction of
greenhouse clusters.
It was important, Dr
Tufton stressed, for
Jamaica and other
Caribbean countries to
boost their agricultural
production, not only to
satisfy growing visitor
demands but also to
guarantee their own food
security, in the face of
rising prices and the
diversion of some
agricultural production
as feedstock for
alternative energy
sources.
That search for
increased food security
has also led to Jamaica
having discussions with
the government of Costa
Rica with a view to
setting up several large
cassava farms on mined
out bauxite lands and
complementary processing
facilities.
This, according to Dr.
Tufton, could see
Jamaica lessening its
dependence on imported
wheat flour, the price
of which is on the
increase.
Cooperation with Costa
Rica will also extend to
the introduction of a
new variety of pineapple
from that country into
Jamaica, he said.
Several of these
initiatives are being
undertaken with the
support of IICA, which
has collaborated with
Jamaica in developing a
framework to strengthen
linkages between
agriculture and tourism.
Ena Harvey, Hemispheric
Specialist with IICA is
also spearheading the
establishment of the
Caribbean Agro-Tourism
Resource Centre, to be
based in Barbados. This,
she explained, will
provide much needed
technical support for
countries seeking to
strengthen the
agriculture-tourism
linkages. |
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