TREASURE BEACH, St Elizabeth —As Jamaica’s tourism industry seeks to battle back from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a call for agro-tourism to be developed as a strong niche especially on the south coast.

Identifying Jamaican farmers as among the “true heroes” in times of crisis such as the ongoing pandemic, Treasure Beach hotelier Jason Henzell said their role should be celebrated by integrating agriculture in the tourism product.

“I want agro-tourism to be a massive part of the recovery strategy, we have always had agriculture over here and tourism over there, and we have never really seen them as one thing. We need to change that,” Henzell told the Jamaica Observer’s Business Report.

Henzell says he and other tourism players have the opportunity to “make a product out of agro-tourism… there is a niche market there”.

The way he visualises it, there would be regular farm tours for visitors, in the same way, they visit traditional attractions, to point out Jamaican agriculture’s value and peculiarities.

“Make the farm tours and celebrate our farmers; make them into heroes (including) small, medium, and large farmers,” said Henzell.

Visitors should be told that “these are the people who are sustaining our economy and society. These are the people who are saving us foreign exchange. Visiting the farm to learn about mulch farming and dry farming highlights those personalities; every Jamaican is a personality.

“The farmer will feel more recognised, more important, more a part of the tourism pie…” said Henzell, who claims he has been spending time during the COVID-19 break on organic vegetable farming at home.

He has been planting lettuce, tomatoes, cauliflower, eggplants, among other vegetables, he said.

Jamaica’s multi-billion-dollar tourism industry has started gradual reopening following lockdown since March, caused by COVID-19, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally, including 10 in Jamaica.

Jamaican hotels on the exotic north coast, extending along a beachside strip from Negril in the west to Portland in the east, are opening their doors in the first phase of the reactivated industry.

It’s expected that community tourism-oriented south coast hotels, including Henzell’s Jakes in Treasure Beach, will begin gradual reopening in a second phase, starting next month.

Noting that farmers have played a significant role in ensuring food remains plentiful, and at affordable prices during the ongoing health emergency, Henzell said there was a need to do more to support them.

“We have very poor people in this country, but we have not gone over the edge, and we are not going to go over the edge. A lot of that has to do with our farming base…,” he said.

He called for action on long repeated plans to use water from the Black River to irrigate the arid plains of southern St Elizabeth to facilitate an increase in farm production.

“I believe we need to look back at using the water from the Black River to irrigate the Pedro Plains, and (some upland communities). I believe that if we give the farmers, reliable and affordable water, we won’t have to import (a lot)…,” he said.

“I believe we can produce 90 per cent of what we consume in our hotels here in Jamaica… what it needs is a tremendous investment in agriculture, including livestock. I believe that this should be one of the main things (going forward),” he said.