KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Karl Samuda continues to push for more young people to get involved in the agriculture sector.

“We have to get (more) young people working to ensure that we grow the crops we need in sufficient quantities and to also enable us to export. Let’s have an explosion of youthful participation so that we can be assured that the sector will grow,” he said.

He was speaking at a stakeholders’ seminar at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club in St Catherine on Tuesday.

Describing agriculture as the “cornerstone” that will spur significantly higher economic growth for Jamaica, Samuda stressed the need to modernise the sector by introducing new technologies and techniques.

He cited the utilisation of proper field management systems as one way of ensuring that the quality of the crops cultivated, particularly for export, meet international standards.

He lauded the Ministry’s Research and Development Division and the Scientific Research Council (SRC) for working with and educating farmers on appropriate soil use and the importance of cultivating high-quality seedlings.

Samuda said there have been positive outcomes from the measure with the cultivation of Irish potato and onion.

“If we engage ourselves in a modern and constructive way, we can really make strides. We have to get to the stage where we cut our import bill of food supplies dramatically, because it is only by doing this that we are going to be able to retain foreign exchange that comes in through other export areas,” he said.

He pointed out that as the Government and sector interests seek to boost agricultural outputs, this must be done in a manner that “not only serves us… but the wider world.”

The seminar was jointly organised by Jamaica Floral Products Limited/Evergrow Garden Centre and Canadian entity Lambert Peat Moss Inc. under the theme ‘High Quality Growing Media at the Root of high Quality Seedling Growth and Crop Production’.

It was aimed at sharing technical information with farmers on preparations for producing high-quality seedlings for cultivation.