The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries through the Jamaica Dairy Development Programme, has provided a multimillion-dollar support package to the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) in Passley Gardens, Portland.

The support package includes grant funding of $12.2 million to renovate the college’s dairy unit,  repair  the existing cooling system, acquire fodder-chopping equipment, install a  machine-milking system, resuscitate and create new pastures, and acquire a pasteuriser and supporting equipment.

Making the announcement at the college’s Founder’s Day ceremony last month, Agriculture Minister Derrick Kellier said the pasteuriser and supporting equipment would ensure that the milk produced at CASE will be safe for use in the school-feeding programme.

With reference to an announcement made in the budget presentation of 2014, Kellier reiterated the glaring need to involve more young people in our dairy development programme.

“Our dairy farmers are ageing and it is critical that we involve our young people in the rejuvenation and survival of the sector,” he said.

Identifying the youth thrust as part of an overall holistic strategy to bolster the dairy development programme, Kellier said the agriculture and fisheries ministry was committed to working with CASE and the other tertiary institutions to revamp and upgrade their dairy programme with equipment, technical support and stock.

The minister emphasised that, in addition to the equipment, and the animals and the physical infrastructure, it was also important to significantly improve the capacity of both lecturers and students to teach and learn the management of dairy farms, so that graduates could become managers of such enterprises. To this end, the ministry was in dialogue with the FAO and the Government of Cuba to pursue the implementation of capacity-building programmes in dairy management.

In addition to the cash grant, 25 Jamaica Hope heifers, two scholarships valued at $600,000 annually to be awarded to students of animal science and/or general agriculture, and a book grant to the library to ensure that the college is up to date on the latest publications in agriculture, animal science and dairy science were also provided to the college.

On Friday, Kellier, and the Education Minister Rev Ronald Thwaites, who was also in attendance, signed an agreement for the provision of financial support to the college.