THE Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has provided a $350- million grant to the Ministry of Agriculture to assist in developing six fishing beaches and the establishment of 40 commercial greenhouses and packing stations.

Agriculture Minister, Christopher Tufton is projecting an increase of at least 330 tonnes of vegetables per year and a resuscitation of the flagging fishing industry resulting from the multi-million-dollar capacity building project.

“The coming on stream of this is indeed timely, as the sector faces the challenges of declining productivity poised against the rapidly increasing cost of imported staples,” he remarked at the signing of the agreement held Tuesday at the Canadian High Commission in Kingston.

According to Cynthia Currie, local representative of the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the agriculture ministry will invest approximately $100 million into the project, which should span three years ending in December 2011.

“This project will ensure a steady supply and consistent high quality yield year-round to meet both local and, over time, export markets,” said Currie, whose organisation will act as executive agency for CIDA and provide technical advice to the agriculture ministry over the duration of the project.

The fishing component is intended to resuscitate and modernise the sector that, in 2007, declined some 9.4 per cent due to hurricanes and other problems, Currie said.

Under the agreement, six fishing villages – Rocky Point, Old Harbour Bay, Clarendon Bay, Black River, Negril and Savanna-la-Mar will be upgraded and 1,000 artificial lobster breeding shelters deployed on reefs.

“These activities will impact over 2,500 fishers and 540 fish vendors and the estimated five to seven per cent of the Jamaican population that rely on the south coast as a primary source for their fish,” said Currie.

In addition, 40 commercial greenhouses are to be built in St Elizabeth, Trelawny, Clarendon, and Manchester and two post-harvest packing facilities constructed.

The greenhouse component is intended to bolster the production of four specific vegetable crops – lettuce, sweet pepper, tomatoes and hot pepper – that are typically sensitive to hurricane damage.

“The project is not only in synch with our development objectives,” Tufton said. “It will also address two of the sub-sectors we have targeted for priority attention in Parliament this year.”

Tufton added that the packing houses, one which is to be sited at Hounslow in St Elizabeth, and the other in the Christiana area of Manchester, are to be leased to private sector interests with minority government ownership.