KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica has called for increased action to help small-scale food producers implement effective adaptation practices to strengthen resilience and reduce their vulnerability to climate change.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green, in making the call at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) High-Level Ministerial Event in Rome on Thursday, said that resource constraints have long affected resilience efforts.

“While transitioning farmers to protected agricultural systems and green technologies is ideal, Jamaica, like other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), does not currently have the financial resources to retool small-scale producers with new technologies that will aid production,” he pointed out.

“Moreover, small-scale farmers also often struggle with varying degrees of resource poverty and are less adaptable to climate change-related challenges than larger farmers. For this purpose, building an inclusive food system requires targeted actions to transfer climate-sensitive farming techniques to small-scale producers,” he said.

Green was one of the high-level representatives from SIDS, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), participating in a panel discussion on ‘Building resilience to shocks: Scaling up resilience for more sustainable and inclusive development.’

The panellists highlighted the need for action to accelerate agri-food systems transformation and help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Green mentioned the continued work of the Jamaican Government to improve the resilience of the agriculture sector through partnerships.

“The ministry seeks to build a more resilient sector to ensure food security for the nation, especially during times of scarcity. The ministry is developing an Agri-Business Cold Chain Framework that would strengthen the resilience, sustainability and climate-sensitivity of the national cold chain infrastructure. A partnership has been established with the Kingdom of Morocco to rehabilitate and expand cold chain facilities in key food producing parishes at a cost of US$1.05 million,” he informed.

The minister said that the Government also continues to partner with the FAO to establish other cold storage facilities/refrigerated containers in the island through investments valued at over US$200,000.

The FAO’s High-Level Ministerial Event, dubbed ‘Transforming agrifood systems to increase resilience and achieve the 2030 Agenda’ was aimed at fostering discussions to harness the potential of SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs.

Coming out of the meeting was a proposal for the establishment of a ministerial network of SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs with technical support from FAO.

Countries represented from the Latin American and Caribbean region included Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Grenada and Paraguay.

-JIS