14,000 Farmers Registered with RADA in St. Ann
Farmer registration in the parish of St. Ann is progressing smoothly, with more than 14,000 farmers registered with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).
This was disclosed by the St. Ann Parish Agricultural Manager for RADA, Pedro Worghs, in his report at the Jamaica Agricultural Society’s (JAS) annual general meeting, which was held recently, at the St. Mark’s Anglican Church Hall in Brown’s Town, St. Ann.
“A number of reasons have led to an increase in farmers participating in the registration programme. One of the reasons is that the Advisory Board has played a very active role in encouraging farmers in their respective locality to come in and get registered. Secondly, we have removed the fee for the processing of the farmer ID, so therefore, this has caused an influx in the number of farmers coming in to seek their farmer identification, which is now free of cost,” Mr. Worghs told JIS News in an interview.
He is encouraging those farmers who have not yet registered, to visit any of the extension offices and make use of the opportunity provided through RADA and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr. Worghs explained that farmers who were registered, had a better chance of participating in any of the programmes that were being offered by RADA and the Ministry.
“Programmes which you can participate in are, for example, application for duty concession, the Fruit Tree Crop Programme and in times of disaster, if you are not registered, you will not be able to get any relief,” he said.
Pointing to the Fruit Tree Crop Programme, which is on-going in the parish, Mr. Worghs said that the programme was fairly successful and informed that some 38 hectares of fruit trees were established in the parish to date.
“We are encouraging you to participate in the tree planting programme. We have a resuscitation aspect whereby we are willing to prune and cut back your fruit trees and assist you in applying fertilizer to them,” he said, noting that interested farmers could seek further information from the RADA extension officer in their area.