KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green, has announced plans for the establishment of an agro park in Mitchell Town, Clarendon to produce freshwater fish.

“We’re going to embark on our first ever freshwater fish agro-park; so, it will be an aqua-park. What it means is, just as you can go to an agro-park and you can rent the infrastructure, you will be able to do that, and we’ve identified lands in Mitchell Town,” he said.

Green was addressing the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday, where he outlined plans to boost production of tilapia to meet the increase in demand for freshwater fish.

An investment of $574 million has been made in the construction of a tilapia hatchery in Twickenham Park, St Catherine to provide quality breeding stock.

“We’re seeing a clear resurgence of our freshwater fish, especially since COVID-19. The demand for freshwater fish, especially tilapia, has really gone through the roof, and we’re looking to facilitate that. How we’re doing that is to expand our hatchery. So, we are the ones who supply the seed stock to the industry,” Green said.

He pointed out that Jamaica now produces one million advanced fry per year but with the multi-million-dollar investment in the tilapia hatchery, production will increase to five million advanced fry each year.

He said the ministry is also looking to revitalise tilapia export.

“You rightly outlined that decades ago, largely led by one private sector entity, we used to do a fair amount of export. Unfortunately, when that private sector entity came out, we did go through some abeyance,” he said, in response to a question from Member of Parliament for St Catherine Southern, Fitz Jackson.

The ministry, in collaboration with the National Fisheries Authority launched a “Tilapia Takeover” campaign on February 27, to highlight the versatility of the fish and to provide meal preparation tips to unlock the taste and flavour.

— JIS