CHRISTIANA, Manchester — Some 5,000 farmers are expected to benefit from a $294-million renovation project for the Coleyville cold storage facility which has been dormant for years.

The facility, located in north-east Manchester, is among five facilities being assessed for renovation according to minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister Senator Audrey Marks.

“When I first came to north-east Manchester I noticed that there are a number of former agricultural facilities that [have] gone dormant and the reason was a lack of resources. I am very pleased that in my portfolio, my responsibility for [Jamaica Social Investment Fund], we are looking and accessing numerous funding facilities that will enable us to rehabilitate many of these facilities,” Marks, who is also the Jamaica Labour Party’s aspirant for Manchester North East, said Tuesday.

She listed the other facilities being targeted for renovation.

“This [Coleyville] is just the first one. We have the [Agricultural Marketing Corporation] building, a [Rural Agricultural Development Authority] building in Sedburgh, and the Potato Growers Association building in Christiana. All… of these facilities that I have noticed that have gone dormant, we will be working to have them restored, fully operating, so the farmers of this constituency and the wider Manchester area will be able to have more support and facilitation,” Marks said at the ground breaking for the renovation of the Coleyville facility.

The other facility being assessed is the Long Pond sports complex in Chudleigh, Manchester.

Marks also promised to create “more linkages within the tourism industry” for farmers.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Floyd Green said the Coleyville facility is well-placed to benefit farmers in north east Manchester and south Trelawny.

“Coleyville has for years now — decades, some would say — fallen into significant disrepair and we did make a commitment that we will put back Coleyville into operation, because the need for Coleyville is still here to serve the over 5,000 farmers who operate in north-east Manchester, and also the southern Trelawny belt,” he said.

“This area has some of our entire productive lands in the entire Jamaica and when they (farmers) produce, if you don’t have somewhere to store it we are going to have a challenge, so this is a major project,” added Green.

He gave a breakdown of the $294-million project which will include the use of renewable energy and water harvesting.

“Eight cold storage bins will be refurbished. We will put in a modern chill system to ensure that we keep our produce fresh longer, but we also learnt from the past. One of the challenges that faced Coleyville was the cost of electricity, so we are as a part of this project putting in a solar photovoltaic system that will satisfy the energy needs, so that we can operate this facility in a responsible, cost-efficient way,” said Green.

“We are not just thinking about energy efficiency, because any cold storage of this nature also needs a lot of water to operate and as a part of this project we are putting in a rainwater harvesting system,” he added.

He said the area is renowned for yam production which remains in high demand for the export market.

“The idea is that this Coleyville cold storage will also help us to facilitate export expansion. Already we are in one of the areas that is known for export. Our number one export is yam and this is a big yam producing belt,” said Green.

He commended JSIF for sourcing funds through the World Bank to help “drive the ministry’s food security matrix”.

Green claimed that the renovation of dormant cold storage facilities were earmarked from before the current political campaign season.

“I know what season we are in. These projects don’t happen overnight… In agriculture, in order to reap you first have to plant and we sowed these seeds a long time ago to get here. In fact, we put in our commitment to the people when we were starting this new journey in 2020 that Coleyville would be an area that we would lead the refurbishment of… The work on Coleyville is going to start now,” said Green.

“I don’t want people to look at the timing and think that it is aligned to anything else. The truth is, I was here months ago where we broke ground for another storage facility. This is just one in one national cold storage strategy,” he added.

He reiterated that another cold storage facility is under construction in Williamsfield, Manchester, and announced that another facility is expected to be opened in the coming weeks in Essex Valley, St Elizabeth.

“We have recognised that there is a challenge right across Jamaica in all our production zones with loss and post-harvest systems. We broke ground in Williamsfield to build a $125-million cold storage facility,” said Green.

“We have a 24,000 square-foot cold storage, processing, and brine preservation facility in Essex Valley… that we are going to go to market to get our private sector to come on board. This is part of a wider drive. We are also doing modular systems, small containerised, renewable energy-led cold storage facilities,” said Green.