ST JAMES, Jamaica – Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green, is advising farmers in South St James to form groups to improve access to support and services being provided by the Government.

Green, who met with farmers in the Welcome Hall area of the parish on Thursday, pointed out that assistance to farmers can be more effectively channelled through groups.

“We have a lot of individual farmers, but we need more farm groups. You will never have enough for everybody to get at the same time, but you need a system so that if one set of people get now, you can move to another set the next time and the best way to organise that is through farming groups,” he noted.

Minister Green said the Government is committed to reviving and supporting farming groups across the South St James region, including providing grant funding for well-organised and proactive groups.

“We are going to hold your hand and ensure that you can do even more than you are doing now. The support you need, we will try to work with you,” he pledged.

Meanwhile, Minister Green is encouraging farmers to take advantage of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority’s (RADA) farmer field school training programme.

The initiative is geared at equipping farmers with best practices and the essential skills to thrive in the sector.

He noted that the training is flexible and can be done at the end of the day, so “it won’t take you out of your field.”

“So, we have the initiatives. What we need to do now is expand and we can do these programmes in South St James. Let RADA know, we can come to you, set up and do the training,” Green said.

-JIS