MORE than 40 exhibitors are expected to participate in Agro Fest 2016, the 20th staging of rural St Andrew’s major annual agricultural show at Jamaica College (JC) this Saturday.

The show which, according to Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) President Norman Grant, “may not be Jamaica’s largest attended, but is certainly one of Jamaica’s greatest agricultural events”, was launched at the head office of the JAS in downtown Kingston last Thursday.

According to Grant, this year’s event will facilitate reflection on the 20-year history of the event, held annually on the grounds of JC. Gates will open at 8:00 am, but the official opening, highlighted by the presence of Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda, takes place at 2:00 pm.

Grant said that the Kingston and St Andrew Association of Branch Societies of the JAS, which is staging the event in association with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, the Jamaica 4-H Clubs and the Mavis Bank coffee factory, is expecting over 40 exhibitors and over 1,500 patrons on Saturday.

He said that over the years, Agrofest has served to honour, support and salute Corporate Area farmers and customers, for their contribution to the development of the economy, while encouraging young Jamaicans to choose agriculture as a career option.

“One of the objectives of Agrofest is to sensitise the nation of the profound national, community-based and personal benefits to be garnered from the JAS campaign for Jamaicans to ‘grow what we eat, and eat what we grow’ as a goal to make the country more food-secured and independent,” he said.

He added that, in addition to creating a market for farmers and to celebrate their importance to the development of Corporate Area’s mainly urban parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, Agrofest accounts for nearly two per cent of the country’s agricultural production and nearly 7,000, or three per cent, of the country’s 177,842 registered farmers.

He also noted that St Andrew produces approximately 45 per cent of the country’s famous Blue Mountain coffee, and is home to approximately half of the country’s 7,000 coffee farmers.

He noted that the price for Blue Mountain coffee has moved from $2,500 per box in 2009/10 to $10,000-$12,000 per box, which is helping to correct the huge decline in production over the past 25 years.

He said that the increased production is being driven by increased prices to the farmers and, as a result, some 1,000 acres of coffee are being resuscitated and will increase Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee production to four million pounds, annually, and revenue from approximately $1 billion to close to $2 billion at the farm gate.

“This basis alone justifies my call for the government, through the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, to implement coffee Agroparks, where the focus should be on improved roads, irrigation systems, funding and the development of nurseries,” Grant asswrted

He said that the show will honour Jamaicans who have served the event over the years.

The annual parish show was introduced in 1971 at Golden Spring, but was suspended for some 25 years before being reintroduced in 1996 and later rebranded as Agrofest.

— Balford Henry