Why Onion Development Programme by Agriculture Ministry hints at Drought Resistant Crops in the Future

“What we have here is a display of some the finest products that you could produce, possibly anywhere in the world. I want see that extended into secondary products where it can be packaged appropriately and sold locally and exported”

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda speaking during an ODP Field Day at Colbeck, St Catherine

Despite my expectation of a drought in 2016 as noted in my blog article entitled “How the Drought of 2015 means higher prices for Jamaican Christmas 2015 and Easter 2016” rain seems to be in our future.

So it should come as no surprise that some farmers are already seeing the difference in certain crops. One such is onion (Allium cepa), production of which have doubled in the past two years as noted in the article “Local onion production doubled in two years”, published Friday, April 15, 2016, The Jamaica Observer. 

According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, the local consumption stats stand as thus for onion (Allium cepa) production:

1.      6% in 2013

2.      12% in 2015

So how are onions (Allium cepa) doing so far in Jamaica?

Onions doing well despite drought – Minister of Agriculture makes much of the condiment

Here are some quick facts on onions (Allium cepa) production in Jamaica in Q4 of 2015:

1.      60 hectares of onions (Allium cepa) were planted by 290 farmers islandwide

2.      10 million onions (Allium cepa) consumed annually in Jamaica

3.      39 farmers in Colbeck

Onions (Allium cepa) are produces in the following parishes as well:

1.      St Ann

2.      Trelawny

3.      St Thomas (Yallahs Agro-Park, Springfield and Seaforth)

4.      St Elizabeth

5.      St Catherine (Amity Hall, Bernard Lodge, Thetford, Nightingale Grove)

6.      Ebony Park in Clarendon

Good to note that these 39 farmers in Colbeck had cultivated eight (8) hectares which can potentially yield some 140 tonnes of Onions (Allium cepa) thank to assistance from Spanish Grain Limited.

This facts came to light during an ODP Field Day at Colbeck, St Catherine, on April 12 where Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda made mention of the fact that agriculture was on the rise as noted in the article “Agriculture Expected to Rebound this Year”, published April 14, 2016 By Garfield L. Angus, The Jamaica Information Service.

So why are onions (Allium cepa) thriving? And what does the Ministry of Agriculture plan to do about it?

Onion Development Programme to produce more Onions – Make Onions while the Rains are falling

According to the MSJ (Meteorological Service of Jamaica), expect some rains but a dry summer as the drought is still possible as noted in the article “Weather Expert Says Drought Outlook Positive, Warns Against Complacency”, published Friday April 1, 2016, by Jodi-Ann Gilpin, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

All thanks to the El Nino Effect, to quote Acting Head of the climate change branch at the MTO, Adrian Shaw: “We are still in an El Nino, but it is expected to weaken going through to July, so until that system weakens, we still expect to have some high temperatures until the rainy season kicks in. The rainy season and the cloud cover will reduce the maximum temperature”.

Clearly, the increased rainfall we've been experiencing is a factor, albeit hotter days are ahead for 2016 as a lot of the days in 2015 were hotter than 30.8C to quote Mr. Shaw: “When we look back at 1974 we only had 83 days where the mean temperature exceeded 30.8C. When we come forward to 2015 we had 286 days where the maximum temperature exceeded 30.8C, which means we are seeing hotter days, and as such, we have to be alert and never get complacent”.

 

This hotter weather would mean less rainfall. Please note that onion (Allium cepa), isn’t exactly a food that everyone likes, as Jamaicans mainly use it as a condiment when cooking or as a garnish on Fried fish or other food. Onion are a fairly hardy plant, requiring little water to reach maturity, hence the reason why onion production rose as more farmers switched to growing onions (Allium cepa).

Growing Vegetables in Jamaica - Why Agricultural Towers are better than Agricultural Parks

Realizing that they have to take advantage of this turn in the weather, the Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries has started a curiously named ODP (Onion Development Programme) in a bid to increase onion (Allium cepa) production by 40% or 4 million kg of onions (Allium cepa) on top of the 10 million kilograms of onions (Allium cepa) consumed annually in Jamaica.

The government has plans to also grow some other crops as well:

1.      Irish potato

2.      Cassava 

Already, Cassava is being grown under Red Stripe's Project Grow initiative to replace imported hops with Cassava as explained in my blog article entitled “Red Stripe's US$800,000 Cassava Processing Plant - How Hops from Wheat and Barley is replaced by Cassava Starch”. 

The only part of this plan that I dislike is the use of Agricultural parks to grow more onions (Allium cepa), as I'm still of the belief that Agricultural towers are a more efficient use of the lands we have in Jamaica as described in my blog article entitled “How IGES Canada Ltd Vertical Hydroponic Aquaponic Towers make low cost Organic foods”.

Growing food in vertical hydroponics and aquaponics agricultural towers instead of horizontal sprawls of land will save on water usage as well as landspace, allowing produce to be grown a lot faster.

Rainwater Harvesting would make it possible to use the rain that fall from the sky before it goes into river and lakes for irrigation in such agricultural towers as noted in my blog article entitled “How NWC’s Water Conservation in Drought 2016 means Rainwater Harvesting with Digital Meters”.

The use of more organic fertilizer with current farming methods will make recycling organic waste in Jamaica more economically feasabile as noted in my blog article entitled “Why Knockalva Enterprises Limited can solve Jamaica's Organic Waste, Bio-Fuel and Water Problem”. 

Paired with making more varieties of plants that use less water or even salt water from the sea such as CARDI's Salt water loving Dasheen as explained in my blog article entitled “How CARDI's Salt Water loving Dasheen and Agricultural Towers can help Pacific islands and Jamaica during Drought” Agricultural Towers would make Jamaican agriculture efficient enough to produce for the entire island.