KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – The Government is moving to safeguard Jamaica’s food security against the impact of climate change through the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) drip irrigation project.

Agricultural Specialist with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), which implements REDI, Vincent Thompson, said that the project is an “aggressive approach” to minimizing the debilitating effects of climate change on agriculture. 

Thompson said despite Jamaica not experiencing extreme drought conditions this year, as prevailed in 2015 resulting in hiked food prices due to reduced outputs, the Government is endeavouring to be proactive in safeguarding the nation’s food supply. This, he added, is due to the unpredictable nature of climate change.

Thompson also reported that phases one and two of the project, undertaken in 2014 and 2015 respectively, have positively impacted nearly 1,160 farmers in 13 communities in St Catherine, St Thomas, Trelawny, Manchester and South St Elizabeth. The farmers were provided with irrigation lines, drip kits, 1,000 gallon water storage tanks and harvesting implements.

They were also exposed to innovative farming techniques, food safety practices, business management, record keeping and marketing strategies. 

The beneficiaries, who are members of the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) Limited Water Users Association, were provided with water from NIC pumping stations, such as the facility in New Forest, Manchester, and guided on efficient irrigation methodologies. 

Phase three will benefit 690 farmers in the South St Elizabeth communities of Tryall, Red Bank, Ballards Valley, Essex Valley, Flagaman and Top Hill, where the fertigation technique was introduced to increase outputs.

Fertigation is the injection of fertilizers, soil additives and other water-soluble inputs into an irrigation system. This is then applied directly to the plant root for optimal delivery of nutrients.

“The farmers used to apply the fertilizer on the surface of the soil which, often, the nitrogenic factor in the fertilizer is volatilised by sunlight. Now, they are able to apply liquid fertilizer through the drip lines. So now they can reduce the cost of production, because they are better able to utilise fertilizers using fertigation,” he further stated.

Drip irrigation, Thompson contended, has significantly increased crop yields where utilized.

“We have found that, overall, our farmers in South St Elizabeth [in particular] have been able to achieve up to [a] 60 per cent increase,” he says.

“With climate change, no one can predict when we are going to have drought, heavy rainfall or flooding. By providing the farmers with drip irrigation equipment during the dry season, they are better able to plan their production so we don’t have any shortages. 

Among the crops grown in St Elizabeth are tomato, sweet pepper, scallion, thyme, water melon, cantaloupe and honey dew melon, as well as pumpkin, hot pepper, broccoli and cauliflower.