Hot pepper farmers to benefit from grant

HOT PEPPER farmers are to benefit from a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) technical assistance grant of US$262,500 to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The FAO has agreed to assist the farmers in the short and long term, including helping with planting material to get the farmers back into production and the training of extension officers in disaster mitigation.

The project has a three-fold objective: First, it is to assist Government with a programme for improved seed production as far as scotch bonnet pepper is concerned. Second, it is to incorporate an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy for effective control of Gawl Midge and Broad Mite, the two pests attacking hot peppers in Jamaica. Third, it is to introduce a technology transfer programme, directed to small farmers in seed production and IPM development.

"In this regard we will carry out a number of training workshops across the island, with the help of a Cuban expert," said Mr. David Bowen, the FAO's representative in Jamaica.

Presently, Jamaica's annual earning from hot pepper stands at US$1 million. As a sub-sector of the agricultural sector, it employs about 3,200 people.

Mr. Bowen said the FAO was happy to be involved in the revitalisation of the industry. "The government saw markets in US and Canada and they asked us for assistance. One of the problems we have been having in Jamaica was to achieve consistency in high quality seeds. This project seeks to improve genetics so that standard peppers can be arrived at," he said.

Mr. Bowen added that the FAO would encourage more farmers across the island to get involved in pepper production. "At the end of the project we expect that there will be the availability of high quality seeds and the government will market it," he concluded.

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