Samuda wants young people to be involved in Irish potato production

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon Karl Samuda, has said that in order to achieve the goal of 100% self-sufficiency in Irish potato production the Government will be calling on young people to assist with the planting of seedlings on an additional 300 acres of land that will be brought into production.
Speaking at the launch of the National Irish Potato Programme 2016-2017 at Malton in Manchester on March 24, Minister Samuda said, “We cannot reach that goal of 100% unless we can supply the seedlings on a timely basis. We have to develop our own planting system, where we prepare, through greenhouses; the seedlings that we need to expand across Jamaica in the areas that are more suitable for the growing of Irish potato.”
Lamenting the need for an increase in the quantity and quality of potato seeds, the agriculture minister said that there needs to be an increase in the volume of seedlings, “quality seedlings, not seedlings that are old”.
In addition, Minister Samuda said that Jamaica needs to acquire new varieties of Irish potato seeds and engage in the use of new techniques, and new equipment. However, he said that he was confident that with the support of the Ministry through the RADA team, working with the level of commitment that they have, he was “absolutely certain that within the next 4 years we are going to meet the 100% supply necessary to be 100% self-sufficient in Irish potato production”.
To date, 2,594 farmers have planted over 753 hectares of Irish potato with some 228.45 hectares, representing 3,336.52 tonnes reaped.
Irish potato is one of the main staples in the Jamaican diet and continues to be a priority crop for the agricultural sector. The market demand for Irish potato is 15M kilograms, which equates to 1,200 hectares of potato production with the assumption that farmers attain a yield of 15 metric tonnes per hectare.
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