Minister of Agriculture Dr Christopher Tufton says many of the island's parish development committees (PDCS) are unable to fulfil their mandates, including the preparation of sustainable parish development plans because of inadequate resources and a dependency on volunteers.

Tufton made his comments during a grant-signing ceremony in Montego Bay for the €2.3-million rural diversification programme on Wednesday.

The project is part of the European Union Banana Support Programme. The funds are expected to boost major banana-producing parishes.

He recommended that some of the resources from the Banana Support Programme be directed at the institutional strengthening of PDCs in banana-producing zones, St Mary, Portland, St Thomas, St James, Clarendon and St Catherine.