“I have lots of overseas orders for breadFruit. People want roasted breadFruit
by the container load and we can't fill the orders. So we need large acreages
(of these Trees)”
Rural Agricultural Development
Authority (RADA) Fruit-Tree coordinator Locksley Waites in an interview with
the Gleaner
Looks like Jamaica has caught “Buy Jamaica Build Jamaica” fever with an
emphasis on Agriculture as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Jamaica's
Basic Item Food Bill mostly from 1st World Countries - Buy Jamaican Build
Jamaica made from Imported Raw Materials in containers that says Made in
Jamaica”.
Yes, you read that right folks. BreadFruit is indeed that versatile
enough to warrant the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture or more
specifically RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) in a revival of
the National Fruit-Tree Crop Project to support this project, given its
nutritional content as stated in “BreadFruit
- Roast Or Boil?”, Published Wednesday November 27, 2013 By Marsha N.
Woolery, The Jamaica Gleaner.
My thinking though, this interest in making Jamaica Agricultural products
more export oriented is going to get a big push, similar to an initiative by
Trevor Willis, a co-partner in Diamond Ridge Processors who promoted vacuum-packaged
BreadFruit at the St Mary BreadFruit Festival in July 2012 as stated in “BreadFruit
On The Go”, published Saturday July 21, 2012, by Christopher Serju, Gleaner
Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner. .
Very much akin to Red Stripe and Agro-Investment Corporation signing a
lease agreement of 36 Acres to test out the best means of growing Cassava to
replace Hops and HMCS (High Maltose Corn Syrup) used in making Red Stripe Beer
as stated in my blog
article entitled “Red
Stripe and Agro-Investment Corporation signs lease Agreement on 36 acres of
Land - Farmers benefit from Cassava’s Day in the Sun as we catch up with
Africa's by September 2014”.
Interestingly too, increased production of Fruit Trees may help the
Ministry of Health’s case to eventually Tax Fast Food Establishments having healthier
Food options available to Fast Food Restaurants to provide Fruit Servings to
make their offerings more healthy as noted in my blog article
entitled “Min.
of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson proposes financing Health Care via a Fast Food
and Junk Food Tax - Jamaican High Schoolers Addiction to American style Fast
Food”.
BreadFruit not the only Fruit –
Land Tenure to reap the benefits of National Fruit-Tree Crop Project
And it’s not just BreadFruit alone. RADA plans to copy the Red Stripe
initiative by reviving a National Fruit-Tree Crop Project that the Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries started in 2000 and give farmers with large acreages to
plant the following crops:
1.
Ackee
2.
Avocado
3.
BreadFruit
4.
Cashew
5.
Custard apple
6.
Guava
7.
Guinep
8.
Jack Fruit
9.
June plum
10.
Lychee
11.
Mango
12.
Naseberry
13.
Nutmeg
14.
Otaheiti apple
15.
Soursop
The Requirements to get the Fruit seedlings are land tenure and the
wherewithal to start in what is a fairly simple VC (Venture Capital) push for
Agriculture as outlined by RADA Fruit-Tree coordinator Locksley Waites,
quote: “We require that you own the
land, or if it is family land, you get a letter from a family elder authorising
you to use it. If it is leased land, we say you must have at least a 29-year
lease, the reason being that most Fruit Trees mature at about year 10, so you
don't want to lease it for 12 years and, by the time you start making money,
the man run you. So for you to get the plant (from RADA), we'll have to select
you and then, once we authorise you to prepare the place, we assist you to line
out the place, offer guidance in terms of proper spacing, and we even show you
how to dig the holes.”.
National Fruit-Tree Crop
Project – Sustainable Production of Fruits for Local usage and Export
Started some 14 years ago, the National Fruit-Tree Crop Project aim was
to produce these Fruits to satisfy local demand, with the excess being channeled
to make juices, jams and jellies. It would also help with issues relating to
deforestation, preservation and enrichment of the topsoil of farmed-out Sugar
Cane lands and Bauxite lands, similar to the Trees That Feed Foundation’s plan
to use BreadFruit to both provide sustenance as well as preserve the soil as
noted in “Saving
The World, One BreadFruit At A Time”, Published Wednesday July 4, 2012 by
Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
Via this process it would also provide employment for out-of-work Jamaicans
by mimicking the Spring Plains Program started by Israeli investor Eli Tisona
when Edward Seaga was Prime Minister as noted in my blog article
entitled “South
Coast developement in Clarendon necessary for JLP victory”.
Most likely this was to be the source of excess Fruit to be used in the Ministry
of Education's School Feeding Program to displace unhealthy and often imported
children's snacks as noted in my blog article
entitled “Ministry
of Agriculture to approve Fruit and Liquified Eggs for School Feeding Program
even as Pork faces Glut - How Solar Farming will make Jamaica's Food Security
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”.
Although 70 per cent of the estimated 800,000 seedlings distributed was Ackee,
the National Fruit-Tree Crop Project has now matured to include the
above-mentioned Fruits. Now with the success of the Cassava Project, the
potential it holds means that this may mark an expansion and even modernization
of Farming as I'd predicted in my Geezam blog
article entitled “Solar
Powered Organic Farming – Sustainable Agricultural Development and Jamaica’s
Food Security”.
Benefits to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education are just
spin-off effects of the resuscitation of this program. It also means that
Agriculture will get the attention it needs to become the means by which we can
cut of massive Food Importation Bill.
With Red Stripe as an example of how Private Sector Partnerships can
boost Agriculture, it’s hoped that similar partnerships with RADA and Agro-Investment
Corporation to make Agriculture profitable for both the Farmer and Jamaica in
terms of Foreign Exchange Earning potential fulfilling the vision of JLP
Senator Christopher Tufton as per my blog article
entitled “Agriculture
and Technology - Where worlds collide”.
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