Young Jamaicans entering agriculture are being promised a head start, with the Government cutting lease rates in half and offering free land preparation for the first two years under its expanding agropark programme.

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green told participants at the Jamaica Agri-Business Investment Forum that 25 per cent of all new agropark lands will be earmarked for youth and women, part of a push to make farming more attractive and profitable.

“For the first two years we’re going to give them free land preparation, free input, so they can really set up strong, thriving agricultural enterprises,” he told the audience of more than 1,000 people both online and in person.

The measures come as the Government doubles down on plans to roll out an agropark in every parish, adding to the 10 parks already operating across seven parishes. Agroparks provide land, irrigation and shared infrastructure for investors, taking much of the risk out of farming while making it easier to scale up production.

“We have an agropark portfolio exceeding 10,000 acres of land across Jamaica and the minister has given us a charge to place an agropark in every parish and we’re working aggressively to get that done over the next three to five years,” Agro-Invest CEO Vivian Scully said.

Scully explained that the concept, first proposed in 2000 and launched in 2014, has often been slow to move from policy to reality. Today, however, he reasoned that the pace is changing.

“As we speak, we have ten agroparks in seven parishes, and what we have are also 15 production zones. Eventually those production zones will be converted to agroparks with increased infrastructure in place — irrigation, marketing facilities and technical support,” he said.

President of Jampro Shullette Cox, who moderated the panel discussion ‘Partnerships — Financing the Agriculture Sector’ on day two of the three-day event, noted that the momentum is critical at a time when farming struggles to attract and retain workers, particularly young people. While agriculture has long been a backbone of rural employment, the sector has lost ground in recent years as better-paying industries pull labour away. For many, farming is still seen as high-risk, low-reward — a perception the Government is now trying to reverse.

Cox argued that Jamaica is better placed today to make agroparks succeed than it was a decade ago.

“In 2013–2014, Jamaica’s debt to GDP was 147 per cent. Today, it’s trending down from 68 per cent in March, and we’re aiming to get to 60 per cent in 2027,” she said. “Ten years ago, the Government did not have the resources to invest the way that we can invest today.”

She added that perceptions of the industry are also shifting.

“We went through a period where farming was not sexy. Farming was not something that investors wanted to look at. But I think over the last decade we have seen where the attractiveness of the industry has really come a far way.”

For Agriculture Minister Floyd Green, the key is ensuring that new agroparks come with the kind of infrastructure that was missing in the past.

“Some of the agroparks that we developed in the past were agroparks in name. But it didn’t have the infrastructure to ensure the success of your enterprise. And what the government is saying now, any agropark that we develop, we’re putting in the requisite infrastructure — water, roads, storage,” he said.

That includes major new projects such as the Southern Plains Agropark in Clarendon, supported by Jamaica’s largest retention pond to supply irrigation, and the Pedro Plains scheme in St Elizabeth, described by Green as “the biggest investment in agriculture in the Caribbean”. Covering 4,000 hectares, it will dwarf the Essex Valley agropark, which at 1,200 hectares is currently the country’s largest.

Private investors are already signalling confidence in the model.

Walkerswood, one of the island’s best-known food companies, has taken up 70 acres in Clarendon, using the land to supply its growing export business. Green said the company has recently secured a deal with US supermarket chain Publix, with sales topping US$7 million in just seven weeks. Diaspora investors are also moving in, with one committing to 90 acres of peppers, ackee, mango and avocado, set to be fully planted by year end, he added.