Investors invited to establish mango orchards on former sugar cane lands
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government is inviting Jamaicans to invest in mango orchards, which are to be established on some 60,000 acres of former sugar cane lands available in St Catherine, Clarendon and Trelawny.
Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Audley Shaw yesterday informed the House of Representatives that the Government has received hundreds of applications for the use of lands for agriculture other than sugar-cane production.
“It includes a wide range of things, including mangoes. Part of those 60,000 acres of land that are available in St Catherine, Clarendon and Trelawny, we are inviting more investors into mango orchards,” Shaw said.
“The licensing procedures for getting into the United States require global GAP conditions. The best way to do that is to have orchards that are produced at a certain internationally acceptable standard in how it’s managed, treatment of fruit flies, and once that is done, the certification for exports is virtually guaranteed,” he pointed out.
Shaw told the House that 12,000 pounds of mangoes were exported on June 13 to the United States.
The mangoes – ‘Julie’ and ‘East Indian’ – were the first set to be exported to the US in 20 years.
Export of the mangoes, which is being facilitated through the Mango Irradiation Programme, is expected to continue once or twice per week until the close of mango season in late July 2019.
