FOR the first time, Jamaican farmers will be provided with their own kits to carry out soil testing themselves — a task normally done by Rural Agricultural Development (RADA) extension officers and other entities providing agricultural inputs.

Several farmers with whom the Jamaica Observer spoke on Monday welcomed the Government’s announcement that 100 farming groups across Jamaica will be provided with soil-testing kits, along with training on their use.

In his sectoral presentation last week, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Floyd Green said that this $9.6-million initiative is being introduced to ensure that before farmers plant, “they are taking a data-driven approach to farming”.

Green stressed that soil health has to be taken seriously as this is crucial to the quality of crops farmers produce.

“About 95 per cent of the food we produce is produced directly with our soil…healthy soil is critical for the agri-food system, and farmers must be able to take a data-driven approach to what they plant, where they plant, and the nutrition regimen that they utilise,” he said.

Green told the Observer on Monday that the kits will belong to the farmers and that the farming groups will take charge of them.

For his part, Preston Prince, a farmer from Shirley Temple, Portland, said he believes it is important to know the make-up of the soil in order to provide all the nutrients crops will need to thrive.

Prince — who cultivates plantain, yellow yam, dasheen and cocoa, among other crops — said he recognised the value of soil testing when local blender and supplier of fertiliser Newport-Fersan (Jamaica) Limited carried out the exercise for him and from those results he was able to input all the nutrients the soil lacked.

Another farmer from Buff Bay, Portland, Michael Silvera told the Observer that he would gladly welcome the soil-testing kits — anything to help improve the performance of his crops.

Silvera — who farms various crops including melon, pumpkin, corn, tobacco, carrot, and onion — said he knows the importance of soil testing in farming, and has requested that RADA carry out the exercise on his land, but he says that more than a year after the request “an extension officer still has not turned up”.

He said that the Government empowering farmers to do the test themselves will eliminate them having to wait on extension officers to take soil samples for the lab to analyse.

According to president of Jamaica Agricultural Society Lenworth Fulton, with farmers having these kits themselves, soil testing will now be done more frequently — which is a major plus for the sector.

He said that while farmers being involved in the soil-testing exercise is not new, “this might be the first time the farmers themselves get the soil-testing kit to keep”.

Fulton said that when he was chief executive officer of RADA, what used to be done is the farmer would request the test, and that farmer and an extension officer would work on the plot for the day to do the samples because the tools were scarce.

“So we had to do [that test] and move it to another extension officer that might have to do soil tests in another extension area,” he said, noting that the testing tools were controlled by RADA and never given to the farmers themselves, but they were taught how to use them.

Fulton stressed that farmers being knowledgeable about the composition of soil and the type of fertiliser to use for different crops is crucial in determining the quality of the crops produced.

“A rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t really be doing any production without you first knowing the soil that you are working with because soils have different nutrient levels, soils are different in texture…there’s a lot of information that the farmer should know before they produce. So, these soil-testing kits will [be crucial in that process],” he said.

“If they know what the soil is lacking in terms of nutrients and so on [it will be very helpful]. You might have soil which is very acidic so you would know that you shouldn’t be doing banana in those soil; you would be doing things like pineapples…So it’s a very good programme and I hope farmers will take it up and improve their productivity,” Fulton said.

In his sectoral presentation Green had also announced that soil-testing kits will be provided for extension services personnel “so when they go out to engage with the farmers they can do the tests on their behalf”.

In keeping with this drive to help farmers get a better grasp of soil health and fertility, Green said that beginning in June this year, 300 farmers across 14 parishes will be trained in soil and water management techniques under a $35-million soil fertility project.

This initiative, he said, will “treat with the depletion of our soil because of inadequate agricultural practices, limited knowledge of soil microbiology, and the negative impacts of climate change”.

“We’re also going to upgrade our laboratory services, and we’re going to be spending $5.5 million to get new equipment to treat with soil diagnostics and soil-testing capacities. Additionally, we are embarking on a project to collect organic waste and convert it to compost,” he said.

Further, Green said the ministry is continuing to implement the soil fertility mapping project in Essex Valley as well as the work with The University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus to develop field work protocols for sustainable soil management.