Jamaica reducing food imports through greenhouses

From the Jamaican Observer: 

Six farmers from Guyana (Jamaica) recently toured farms and establishments in Manchester and other areas of Jamaica to increase their knowledge of protected agriculture, including greenhouse farming, as part of a $20-million, six-year agriculture project being implemented by the non-profit Canadian Hunger Foundation.

The aim of the eight-country project, called Promotion of Regional Opportunities for Produce through Enterprises and Linkages (PROPEL), is to significantly reduce the Caribbean's food imports and increase farmers and processors access to markets within the region and externally, through measures including the provision of technical training of farmers, access to disease-free planting material and activities designed to improve and expand farm operations.

Khemraj Tulsie, agriculture coordinator for the PROPEL project in Guyana and who accompanied the visiting farmers said that the trip to Jamaica was funded by the Canadian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. He said that Guyana was closer to the starting point where protected agriculture was concerned and there were a range of applications being used in Jamaica from which the farmers could learn.

"We didn't want to take them to somewhere that was completely at the high end that was going to dissuade them from trying this because Guyana is a poor country," he said.

To read the full article, visit the Jamaican Observer's website.