KINGSTON,Jamaica – Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Seprod Group of Companies Richard Pandohie says the agricultural sector must play a key strategic role in the process of economic development in Jamaica.

Pandohie was speaking at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Seprod and the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, yesterday.

Pointing to countries like the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States, Pandohie said the economic prosperity of these countries was built on the back of the agricultural sector. He noted that Jamaicans continue to look at agriculture and farming as something at the lowest end of the totem pole and keep missing a huge opportunity to really drive the country forward.

“The agricultural sector we look at it as just two people in a field digging up yam or something. It’s much more than that,” Pandohie said.

He described driving along the highway and looking at the amount of unused land as synonymous to the absence of productivity.

 Pandohie said Seprod and its partners believe that if all Jamaicans do well together, the country will advance. “We might have our selfish interest, however, the growth of the country must precede all those interests,” he said.

“This programme with CASE is not only about what Seprod is giving to CASE but what CASE will give back to Seprod and the economy through research and development, through offering work and practical experience to the students,” Pandohie said.