The 55th staging of the Denbigh Agricultural Show opened yesterday with the announcement of the construction of a $200-million, 60-room hotel on the property and plans to keep the Clarendon showground open to visitors all year.

“Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will break ground for a 60-room hotel when she visits on Monday (tomorrow),” Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president Norman Grant said at the opening ceremony.

The hotel is scheduled to be completed in 36 months, Grant told the Sunday Observer in a later interview, adding that funding will be mixed, through a multinational organisation and farmers’ equity.

“We are going to ask farmers to buy into it,” he said.

At the same time, Grant announced that the JAS was in the process of establishing four buying stations, consisting of a cold storage and packing centre, at strategic points across the island to assist farmers in marketing their produce.

“We sought intervention from a London-based company to construct four modern cold storage and packing centres at a total $20 million,” Grant told patrons at the show.

The buying stations will be constructed at Denbigh, Essex Valley in St Elizabeth, Montpelier in St James and Hague in Trelawny.

Grant added that construction on the centres is proposed to begin in September and completed in “four to six months”.

Working capital to allow for the purchasing and packing of produce, Grant said, would be underwritten by the Ministry of Agriculture.

“We need $100 million to set up and operate, and we will be pursuing contracts between farmers and the hotels,” said Grant.

Saying that tourism and agriculture were linked, Grant noted that seven years ago the hotel sector used only 25 per cent local produce. “You are now buying in excess of 60 per cent of what we produce, amounting to billions of dollars,” he said.

Minister of agriculture, Roger Clarke, who gave the keynote address, endorsed the JAS cold room project, saying that his ministry would offer support. However, the lead role in the marketing of agricultural produce would have to be played by the JAS.

“We are ready to support you. agriculture marketing must take centre stage as we move forward,” Clarke said.

Speaking on the issue of rising fertiliser prices, Clarke reiterated that efforts were currently being made by his ministry to source fertiliser at the point of manufacture.

“Contact has been made with Venezuela,” he said, adding that in the meantime talks are in progress with St Kitts to offload excess fertiliser inventory in that island.

Insurance for the agriculture sector was also a nagging problem for the ministry.

“Sustainable agriculture insurance remains a challenge for the sector,” Clarke said. He explained that with the repeated hurricanes the agriculture sector continued to prove an unlikely candidate for reinsurance. “And even if they reinsure, the premiums are prohibitive.”

Clarke, however, listed success stories in the sector, saying that there was a 20 per cent growth last year and “the trajectory is the same this year”.

Traditional exports were bringing reducing returns, Clarke said, noting that “diversification must be pursued and attained if we are to survive”.

One example, he said, was the local poultry industry, which was nurtured to the point where the country is now self-sufficient in poultry and egg production.

Governor-General Kenneth Hall will be the guest of honour on day two of the show, which will see the dedication of the Agriculture Hall of Fame and the naming of the livestock display area for pioneer agriculturist T P Lecky.

Denbigh 2007 is being staged under the theme: ‘Agro-technology – Advancing National Development’.