As part of efforts to reinvigorate the dairy sector, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, has informed that some of the island’s educational institutions are being targeted for the distribution of brand-new bulk storage tanks.

Speaking recently at the handover ceremony for a communal milking parlour in Hillside, St Thomas, Green said that the tanks were ordered and are intended for the Northern Caribbean University, Sydney Pagon STEM Academy and Ebony Park HEART Academy.

One of the tanks will be assigned to the Hillside parlour. The distribution will be in tandem with the Jamaica Dairy Development Board.

“The drive of the Ministry is around what we call the new face of food, and the face of food starts with food security, and we see the production of milk as a critical component of our food security matrix,” the Minister said.

“The only way we’re truly going to drive milk production is if our learning institutions have access to the technology,” he added.

In the meantime, Green also informed that the Ministry, through its research arm, the Bodles Research Station, is developing a system where farmers who are in the production of hay and silage are provided with the necessary equipment.

“We need that to drive the growth of our dairy sector. We will provide the equipment; we will rent that to our farmers. Millions of dollars of equipment are being procured now to ensure that you will be able to bale, prepare your silage, and you can rent that equipment so you can invest in the production of the feedstock that we need to drive the sector,” the Minister said.

He added that, overall, it is expected that the nation’s dairy sector will see exponential growth over the next few years.