THE Government of Japan yesterday signed a contract worth US$89,000 for the resuscitation and improvement of the Moyhall Coffee Factory at Cedar Valley in St Thomas.

The project, when completed, will turn methane gas – an ozone- depleting substance – into electricity to run the entire plant.

When completed and fully operational, the plant will provide savings of US$100,000 per year, more employment and a cleaner environment.

At the contract signing at the Embassy of Japan located at Oxford Road in Kingston, representatives of the Blue Mountain Coffee Co-operative Society (BMCC) and the Coffee Industry Board hailed the collaboration as a new day for coffee farmers.

Japanese Ambassador Masahiro Obata said the grant will allow the BMCC to be a model of “alternate energy” and “consumption-clean energy”.

“I guess it is safe to say that today we are witnessing the beginning of the greening of the coffee industry…,” he said.

Ambassador Obata said the project will utilise waste water from the Moyhall coffee plant to produce enough energy to run the entire plant.

Japan, he said, was very pleased to be associated with the project.

“This waste water would normally devastate the surrounding land environment, and would eventually produce, on decomposition, methane gas which contributes to the greenhouse effect,” he said. “What better endeavour can we as a people be involved with, than one that turns waste to energy; that turns the threats to our survival to something that sustains it…”

Alternative energy, as part of the solution for global warming, has been a major priority of the Japanese Government, he said, adding that the partnership was important as Japan consumes in excess of 80 per cent of Blue Mountain Coffee.

Japan’s involvement in the Clean Development Mechanism is well known, with their honouring of the Kyoto Protocol dealing with the loweringof emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Rupert Scott, chairman of the BMCC, said honesty characterised the relationship between the two countries during the past 50 years, and the grant was a strengthening of that country’s commitment to honesty in business.

Timon Waugh of the Coffee Industry Board said the culmination of the project was in the making for a long time. He said the Moyhall plant took a battering from hurricanes Dennis and Emily, and that the assistance comes at an opportune time.