Jeffrey Cover stands inside one of the greenhouses that are being erected in Top Alston in the parish of Clarendon. - photos by Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

A project that it is hoped will reignite Jamaican ginger production is set to be launched this Labour Day.

As part of the national plan for the holiday, ginger farms in Morovia and Top Alston will attempt to grow ginger from tissue cultures.

The move should lower the risk of disease wiping out entire crops and also increase income for individual farms.

The project will use greenhouses and carefully monitored nutrition for the plants to create ideal conditions for healthy growth.

Jeffrey Cover, one of the leaders of the project, told The Gleaner how the scheme aimed to eliminate the disease known as 'boil' and keep plants healthy.

"This project is really research to assist the farmers in getting clean ginger plants," he said.

"The community as a whole is enthusiastic, now they want to see what it will yield," he added.

Should the format prove successful in the early stages, the hope is that the procedure would become more widely used.

satisfy the local market

Cover said that a success story here may result in the abolition of imported ginger, as the local producers should manage to satisfy the local market, with enough left for export.

He said that despite the drop in production in Jamaica, a large overseas demand had remained.

"Ginger from Jamaica, especially from this area [North West Clarendon], is some of the best ginger in the world," he said.

Milton Brown, mayor of May Pen and chairman of the parish council, said, "I can justify the appropriateness of the project. I'm really hoping that the effect will be far reaching." Brown held that ginger production was economically viable, as it was labour intensive without needing vast areas of land in the way that cane does.

"If a man has a square of ginger, he can earn a decent amount of money," Brown explained.

Brown said he hoped that exposing the public to the project, which will have had several weeks preparation before Labour Day, might garner interest in going into the industry.

"If we can get out of it 20 or 30 men and women with a significant interest in growing ginger," he said, "it will have been a success."

Jeffrey Cover shows The Gleaner news team ginger being cultivated in Top Alston in the parish of Clarendon. Top Alston will see a lot of activity this Labour Day with a ginger project to encourage farmers to plant more ginger.