JAMAICA TO HOST INTER-AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER

JAMAICA TO HOST INTER-AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER

Jamaica will host the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture's (IICA) ministerial conference at Montego Bay in October. This will be the first time that the conference will be held in the Caribbean and ministers of agriculture and secretaries of agriculture of 34 countries are expected to attend.

During a courtesy call on Prime Minister Bruce Golding recently, the Director General of IICA, Chelston Braithwaite, thanked him for his support and said Jamaica was leading the way in the region.

Noting that 70% of graduates of the College of Arts Science and Education (CAPE) did not work in the industry, the Prime Minister said that the government was trying to find ways to keep graduates in the field. Government was also actively seeking ways to cut energy costs, as the average cost per kilowatt hour in Jamaica was US26 cents while in Trinidad it was US3 cents; and in competing countries it ranged from US 6 cents to US 12 cents.

Noting that frequent and regular inter-island transportation for goods was a limiting factor for increased production, the IICA Director of Operations and Integration for the Caribbean Region, Trevor Murray, said the quality of storage capacity for produce needed to be improved. He also said that more effort should be given to farmer training, similar to what is done in other professions.