PORT ANTONIO, Portland — A hundred and five farmers in the cocoa belt of St Mary and Portland were thrown a lifeline last week with a $5.5 million donation of tools and other support from the Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems adapting to climate change (Ja REECH) project.

The project, which is funded through the United States AID (USAID) and implemented by Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA), focuses on protecting rural lives, livelihoods and ecosystems in targeted Jamaican communities that are affected by climate change. The communities are Belfield and Pembroke in St Mary and Belvedere, Orange Bay, Hope Bay, Tom’s Hope and Hector’s River, in Portland.

The farmers were presented with equipment valued at $2.5 million, to be bolstered by an additional $3.5 million to support livelihood diversification opportunities which will see them planting cash crops like dasheen, onion and yam.

Prior to the handover at Tim Bamboo Hotel in Port Antonio Friday afternoon, the farmers were trained in the use of the equipment — which included pole pruners, hand pruners, pruning shears, knapsacks, and motorised sprayers – and in the care of their cocoa farms.

Keynote speaker Peter Thompson, principal director, Technical Services at Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA), said Jamaica produces on average, a third of the world’s cocoa, which is inadequate. Even so, he said, cocoa production has not been stable over the years, except for the 2011-2012 season when the country produced 557 metric tonnes.

He said the production has been affected by the inadequate extension services across the island, timely payments to farmers for the supply of cocoa, reluctance to repairing cocoa fields that results in fields overgrown with shrubs and infested

with rats.

“Cocoa is very important to our farmers who farm on marginal lands in St Mary, Portland, St Catherine, Manchester and Clarendon.

“We need more youth and women in the production and in agriculture as agencies require this and without the youth involvement the continuity will be absent,” Thompson said.

Dian Dormer, in bringing greetings for Malden Miller, project management specialist at USAID – Jamaica, said the tools will help the farmers build their capacity to adapt to climate change, given the importance of the cocoa sector to rural livelihoods.

“We saw this as important given the fact that currently Jamaican cocoa attracts premium prices due to its high quality. Efforts to improve the resilience and productivity of the Jamaican cocoa industry will go a far way in boosting Jamaica’s overall agriculture sector and food security. The farmers currently benefiting from this ‘tools for farmers’ initiative are members of the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Association and therefore these groups will serve to support the viability of the industry. The Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Association and its members have been successful in accessing overseas markets for farmer-processed cocoa beans thereby fulfilling the continued demand for the product,” Dormer said.

Roy Roberts, in response for the farmers, pledged that the farmers will make optimal use of the training and equipment for maximum production of cocoa and will diversify farm practices.