PERMANENT Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, says that now that the agricultural sector is reducing Jamaica’s dependence on imported foods, it is time for it to look to increase exports.

“We have to start looking at exports and looking at earnings, so that we can reverse the balance in our food import bill and create wealth for our people,” Stanberry told the launch of the 2015 “Eat Jamaican” programme, which has been promoted annually by the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS).

Stanberry said that the sector is not only able to make a quantum leap in production, due to increased demand from the tourism sector with the expansion of available rooms, but the ministry has also done groundbreaking work in finding markets outside of the usual diaspora markets in North America and the United Kingdom.

He said that one example was the increasing demand in the non-diaspora markets for sweet potatoes, which has encouraged the ministry to set up a research and development division at Bodles, as a major producer of planting material to build the sweet potato industry.

“It is in high demand in Europe. It is an industry, and we can make a lot of money from it,” Stanberry said.

He added that there was also an increasing demand for ginger; new varieties of watermelon; yams; ackee; pumpkin, and that there are huge opportunities for scotch bonnet pepper and West Indian red pepper, due to recent incidents in the Dominican Republic.

Speaking at the launch, which took place on Wednesday at the JAS head office, Church Street, Kingston, president of the farmers’ society, Senator Norman Grant, said that since 2003, when the campaign was launched, the sector had grown by some 25 per cent, despite numerous hurricanes and droughts.

He said that this has contributed immensely to reducing food imports over the period, to the extent that Jamaica has reduced its food import bill by approximately US$50 million, or close to 4.5 per cent in 2014 over 2013.

He attributed the improvement to the “tremendous awareness” created by the JAS and the ministry working in partnership to promote the value of Jamaican foods through programmes like the Eat Jamaican campaign.

He said that the campaign, which was started in 2003, was the catalyst for similar campaigns such as the Jamaica Manufacturers Association’s (JMA) “Buy Jamaica”, and the Jamaica Exporters Association’s (JEA) “Brand Jamaica” campaigns.

“The Jamaican farmers, working with the JAS and the ministry have pioneered a path that Jamaica will celebrate in the not too distant future- economic independence through the transformation of the agricultural sector,” Senator Grant said.

He said that November will be celebrated as “Eat Jamaican” month, and November 25 as “Eat Jamaican Day”, and that both events will be proclaimed by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen.