Leader of the Opposition, Edward Seaga. -
FileWESTERN BUREAU:
OPPOSITION LEADER Edward Seaga has proposed the fast-tracking of a US$106-million plan to irrigate 20,700 hectares (51,151 acres) of land, which could yield at least an additional $6 billion in agricultural output.
In his Budget debate contribution last week, Mr. Seaga was exceptionally optimistic about the possibilities that exist in the island's sugar industry, which, with production costs of upwards of 40 per cent higher than the world market, faces dim prospects when European preferences fall away in six years.
He pointed to Centre Pivot Irrigation system and management techniques being used by the Wray & Nephew-owned Appleton and New Yarmouth estates, that have increased sugar cane yields between 53 per cent and 84 per cent and the conversion ratio of cane to sugar by nearly 84 per cent.
"This opens a new vista for substantial unused, non-irrigated land in St Catherine and Clarendon which, if cultivated in cane using new technology, could increase production and value of sugar cane considerably, to some 300,000 tons of sugar, or more than twice the current level," said Mr. Seaga.
The day before Mr. Seaga's presentation, Agriculture Minister, Roger Clarke, had also pointed to some of these experiments and their results, but had said that a series of studies were being done as part of the effort to reduce the production cost of Jamaica's sugar.
Mr. Seaga also suggested that Sea Island cotton could be a successful and lucrative crop in the coastal areas of Clarendon and St. Catherine, following the successful experiment by the Jamaica Agricultural Development Foundation (JADF) with 125 hectares of the crop. Marine shrimp was another strong possibility, he said, for the area, based on work done by the JADF. Agro-based initiatives such as sugar refining and the manufacture of other sugar-based products; hydroponics farming; biotechnology, including the development of nutraceuticals, dietary supplements and flavouring and essences from Jamaican plants; and bio-extractions are possibilities that could put Jamaican agriculture on the "fast track".
Source: Sugar Industry Research Institute (SIRI).
Seaga makes US$106-m proposal
