KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries says Jamaica now has access to export pineapples commercially to Barbados.

This took effect Friday, October 29.

Exporters, farmers/farms producing pineapples for export must be registered with the ministry’s Plant Quarantine/Produce Inspection Branch and adhere to the export protocols, that is, phytosanitary requirements as well as post-harvest handling, packaging and certification.

Additionally, the ministry said exporters who want to export pineapples to Barbados must obtain an import permit from the Plant Quarantine Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Barbados. 

Chief Plant Quarantine/Produce Inspector at the ministry, Sanniel Wilson Graham said “this new development is part of Jamaica’s thrust to expand exports to improve the country’s earnings from the agricultural sector and follows new market access opportunities in the Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom.”

Noting that there has been an increase in the number of commodities exported to the Cayman Islands, Wilson Graham said there has also been an expansion of the approved farmers allowed to export bananas to Cayman.