THE four-year-old Jamaica Greenhouse Growers Association (JGGA) is looking to establish what it terms ‘a greenhouse industrial park’ for their producers of vegetables for export.

Michael Ennis, vice-president of JGGA, said a concept document was completed and the association is now looking for funding from international agencies.

He said that although a revolutionary concept in Jamaica, the association would be seeking to grow the industry from 20 acres to 200 acres in five years, using land it intends to lease from the Government.

Under that arrangement, the JGGA would provide all the infrastructure, such as water, electricity, packaging and post-harvesting facilities, as well as an established export arrangement to benefit all the farmers in the greenhouse industrial park.

Each farmer would need, therefore, to only ‘plug’ into those facilities, which would have all the controls necessary to ensure greater yields. This would redound to lower overhead costs to the farmer and also create an opportunity for investors to get involved.

“We are currently in negotiations with the Government, through the National Land Agency, to lease the land we need. But we are seeking the necessary funding to make it happen,” Ennis said.

He added that the concept was formulated earlier this year, following a meeting with the minister of agriculture, during which the the association was encouraged to increase production among its members. However, the concept really got legs in the wake of a recent visit by a delegation from the JGGA to the Dominican Republic, where it was observed that greenhouse farmers were successfully producing tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, cauliflower, ginger, and herbs for export.

“Our greenhouse farmers are producing similar crops but are having difficulty with the marketing of the products,” Ennis said.

He noted that the association — comprised of 140 members who grow a variety of products — had thought up to now that it would take up to three years to get over operational hurdles before it could look at ways to export the products.

But, according to the JGGA executive, the Dominican Republic farmers showed the association’s delegation that in seven years, they had grown from 30 to 800 acres under greenhouse production. In addition, they were proactive in seeking out export brokers who take all the goods they can produce to the world market.

“That is the way we want to go,” Ennis said.

The greenhouse growers industry began in Jamaica on an individual basis, with a couple of houses averaging in size 600 square metres. However, Ennis said it soon became obvious that that size of the house was not going to be an economical model. The recent trip to the Dominican Republic made the members of the delegation aware of the use of technology, in relation to high yield and productivity.

“Now we realise that the timeline to prepare for the export market can be one year and the plans can begin immediately. So our aim is to put ourselves in a position to export from now on, as we are now aware of the fact that the export trade for greenhouse products is broker-driven. The brokers have all the markets and are looking for products to fill their orders,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Ennis said it was unfortunate that greenhouse farmers have been recently experiencing difficulties in marketing their goods, with reports of stock rotting in the houses and the dumping of produce.

“This, we believe, was caused by a combination of factors, including significant increases in production and lower demand at this time of the year. Therefore, this experience has confirmed our conviction that the industry must move towards the export market as expeditiously as possible, so that in future years this problem will not recur,” he noted.