ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Farmers in St Elizabeth have increased cultivation of Irish potatoes more than four times over as the Government strives to meet the local demand of 15 million kilogrammes per year.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, minister without portfolio, JC Hutchinson, told an Irish Potato Production Post Harvest Seminar and Study Tour in Hounslow, St Elizabeth on Friday that cultivation of the staple had quadrupled, with some 60 hectares planted in the December 2016 to January 2017 period.

Hutchinson said that according to a Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) report, the number had improved from the similar period last year where 15.8 hectares were planted.

Under the National Irish Potato Programme, the Government has set a target of achieving self-sufficiency with the ground provision through the planting of 1,200 hectares of the tuber for the 2016/2017 season.

The total cost of the programme will be $1 billion with some $71.3 million spent, to date, on the purchase of seeds and fertiliser.  In addition, the ministry, through RADA, will be providing $400m towards technical support for the programme.

Hutchinson meanwhile encouraged the farmers to continue to increase their production of Irish potatoes while lauding them for being the highest producers of pineapples, peanuts, condiments and vegetables in the country.