THE agriculture industry is seemingly better positioned for economic growth following a workshop using specialised software to aid in the management of the beet armyworm (BAW).

More than 45 technical personnel within the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF) have benefited from a special training utilising the Open Data Kit (ODK) software.

ODK is an open source software which uses smartphones and/or tablets to capture and upload, in real 0time, data using customisable digital forms to a cloud-located database.

The training was executed in collaboration with the USAID-funded Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems Adapting to Climate Change II project (Ja REEACH II) and the Agricultural Land Management Division of MICAF on June 14 at the Bodles Agriculture Research Station in Old Harbour, St Catherine.

The software is expected to improve real-time data collection, analysis and reporting to advance integrated pest management in beet armyworm and other pest threats which impact agriculture production.

The training will also reportedly equip Bodles Agriculture Research Station and Rural Agricultural Development Authority with the capability to use the mobile platform to monitor targeted pest incidences, and with climate information, develop forecasting models to help predict pest outbreaks. This will allow for the rapid communication of pre-emptive actions to stakeholders to protect their on-farm operations.

In May, the Rural Development Agricultural Authority’s assessments of fields in the affected areas, which include Comma Pen and Bull Savannah in St Elizabeth, and other areas in south Manchester, indicated that there has been a total loss of 54 hectares of crop since the outbreak started in March. This is reportedly valued at $111 million.

Since the 1990s, several major pests have impacted agricultural production in Jamaica, namely, BAW in escallion and onion, Leaf Hopper in dasheen, and Leaf Rust in coffee, among others, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to farmers.