KINGSTON, Jamaica— Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green, is assuring the nation’s farmers that he values their input and will be steadfastly working with them to resolve the challenges that confront them.

“That is the sort of approach that I take to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. I definitely believe in an inclusive approach. I definitely believe that while I am quite aware of some of the fundamental issues, the more people that we have that are brought into fixing the problems, the easier the problems will be to fix,” he said.

The minister was addressing the virtual staging of the 125th annual general meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) on Wednesday.

In demonstration of this resolve to seek greater involvement from farmers in the affairs of the industry, Green pointed out that he spent the first month as the new minister “going to every parish and sitting and hearing from our farmers – hearing directly some of the challenges that they face, some of the issues”.

“We are very aware of some of the long-standing issues, but I also thought it was very important to not only hear directly some of the specific issues in relation to specific parishes but also to hear from the farmers of their solutions,” he said.

In this vein, he assured the JAS, the body that caters to the welfare of the farming community, that “you have a partner in this minister, who is always willing to hear from you in relation to some of the challenges the farmers are facing, but more importantly, to hear from you some of the solutions that you want to see”.

“This we will do hand in hand as we embark on my vision for the agricultural sector and how we can reform, reshape and ensure that we have an agricultural sector that can move Jamaica forward,” he said.