Environmental policy and administrative management

Ever since the inception of the Christiana Potato Growers Cooperative Association (CPGCA) in 1959, farmers have been faced with many challenges such as diseases affecting their crops, low production and waste. The CPGCA is applying for funding to strengthen its institutional capacity and expand the services that we provide to our farmers in an effort to better their lives. To do this, we are asking for funding to create the capacity for the co-op to produce disease free planting material by establishing a tissue culture lab and an agricultural products processing plant by modernizing our cold storage facilities, a move that will reduce storage losses by 25%. We have also begun the production of vegetables and seedlings under green house conditions thereby producing quality farm produce ourselves, pointing the way and lighting the path of our farmers. Our main objectives are to increase crop yield by a minimum of 30%; increase shelf life and reduce storage losses by levelling out peaks and lows, thus ensuring a better average price for the farmer s produce and ensuring consistent supplies to the consumers. The other major area for improvement in Jamaican farming is commercial processing. Our farmers currently loose 30-50 % of their crop due to physiological damages; slight bruises, growth cracks, too big, too small and this is without mentioning that they are harvesting premature crop reducing their overall yields just to avoid the above problems. By retrofitting and equipping an existing warehouse to serve as a processing plant, we can add value and increase the utilization of our farm produce and enable access to markets that were not available while the produce was in its fresh state for reasons including Sanitary and phytosanitary concerns, superficial blemishes, irregular sizes, the conversion of rejects into animal feeds by fermentation and other products, these actions will increase farm income. In the case of sweet potatoes, our intended flagship product, we would like to harvest one single time for the entire crop thereby reducing entry of pest through openings left after removing the first set of tubers and thus enhancing the integrated pest management (IPM) approach. Those tubers unsuitable for the fresh market would be brought to the processing plant to be turned into starch for noodles and other value added products. This would significantly increase the income of our farmers. II. Project Objective The objective of this project is to build the capacity of the Cristiana Potato Growers Association Limited, thus positioning it to be the one stop shop that our farmers so desperately need. A visit to the CPGCA by a farmer will ensure that he or she has access to training; clean, healthy farm inputs; adequate extension services and a market for his crops, even those which would normally be classified as rejects. This would guarantee maximum economic returns to the farmer. Expected outcomes and outputs of the project 1. An incremental increase in the annual output of produce in the main producing areas covered by the CPGCA. 2. A functioning Tissue Culture facility and just over 2,000m2 of Screen Houses established at Coleyville and Devon in the parish of Manchester to provide an ongoing supply of clean, disease free planting materials. 3. Improved marketing services for produce to include collection, transportation, storage and other post-harvest handling facilities. 4 A structured outreach and farmer support programme to deliver education and training to farmers in the areas of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). 5. At least 3000 farmers in the key producing areas (e.g sweet potato/yams/vegetables) trained in IPM and GAP. 6. An Agricultural Support Services Programme in place and functioning to deliver on-farm irrigation services and input supplies.

Jamaica