Jamaican pineapple growers can now increase their earnings from exports to Barbados.

A release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries outlined that “With effect from October 29, 2021, Jamaica now has access to export pineapples (fruit) commercially to Barbados.”

The ministry said that exporters, farmers and farms producing pineapples should be registered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries' Plant Quarantine/Produce Inspection Branch and comply with phytosanitary requirements as well as post-harvest handling, packaging and certification.

Additionally, exporters who wish to export pineapples to Barbados must obtain an import permit from the Plant Quarantine Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in that country.

“This new development is part of Jamaica's thrust to expand exports to improve the country's earnings from the agricultural sector and follows new market access opportunities in the Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom,” Sanniel Wilson Graham, chief plant quarantine/produce inspector, stated

In relation to the Cayman Islands, Wilson Graham said there has been an increase in the number of commodities exported to the territory, including expanding the approved farmers allowed to export there.

Furthermore, with the United Kingdom (UK) granting official clearance, Jamaica can also export pineapples, coconuts, citrus, cotton, bananas, apples, plums, papaya, and guavas to the UK.

Jamaica resumed export of mangoes to the United States and the UK in February 2019 and April 2021, respectively.