Agriculture Ministry Seeks Feedback On 10-Year Plan For Jamaican Farming Sector

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining is seeking key input from stakeholders while it completes the 10-year National Agricultural Development Plan (NADP), which is intended to renew the sector, make it stronger and improve its ability to withstand shocks.

The initiative carries the title ‘Growing Forward: A Blueprint for a Better Jamaica’ and is being prepared with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It focuses on four main areas: resilience and sustainability; efficient production systems; competitive, innovative agribusiness; and value chains.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, introduced the draft plan during his recent Sectoral presentation in the House of Representatives. The Ministry is aiming to table the final document in Parliament by the end of September 2026.

At a validation workshop held on May 21 at the ROK Hotel in Kingston, Minister Green said the 10-year framework came out of “multiple layers of research work, across multiple administrations”.

He described the plan as a “game changer” for agriculture in Jamaica, saying it offers a route towards turning the agri-food sector into a “resilient, competitive, inclusive, and sustainable system”.

According to the Minister, the NADP addresses “the full spectrum from primary production to post-harvest systems, trade, export development, research, innovation, human capital, entrepreneurship. All the areas needed to develop a robust agricultural system”.

“It also explores efficient agricultural train and marketing systems, food security and nutrition,” the Minister added.

He told stakeholders from farming communities, the public and private sectors, academia and development partner organisations that Jamaica needs the plan “to move beyond just medium-term strategic initiatives to a more comprehensive long-term strategic blueprint that can move the country forward”.

Minister Green pointed to Jamaica’s exposure to global economic shocks, wars, changing trade flows, technological disruption and severe weather, saying the NADP should put the country in a better position to deal with those pressures.

He also linked the plan to wider rural development, noting that agriculture remains central to many rural communities because it supports earnings and helps reduce poverty.

Addressing those taking part in the validation process, the Minister said they were expected to “dissect the plan and to give us further feedback so that we can now pull all of it together. We are running on a very tight time frame. So, we look forward to all your feedback”.

“We have brought you here today because we know putting a plan to paper is one thing, but the implementation of that Plan will depend on not just all of us sitting in this room but the over 270,000 registered farmers, agribusinesses, our researchers and our educational institutions, everybody who touches and concerns agriculture across the country,” he added.

Minister Green thanked the FAO for its guidance and contribution, saying work that might otherwise have taken years was completed in about a year and a half.

Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and The Caribbean FAO, René Orellana Halkyer, said the NADP provides Jamaica with a strategic path for the future at a time when nations must reconsider how food is grown, distributed and protected amid growing global uncertainty.

He said Jamaica’s pursuit of long-term food security requires forward planning, stressing that stronger agri-food systems depend on “anticipating future challenges, building resilience, and aligning national policies to ensure sustainable food availability, access and utilisation”.

“The Plan rightly positions agriculture as a pillar of national resilience, economic stability, food security and nutrition, environmental sustainability, and social transformation,” Mr. Halkyer noted.

“The collaboration between government, the private sector, academia, development partners, and farming communities will be essential to translating this vision into tangible results,” he added.

Stakeholders and the wider public are being encouraged to read the National Development Plan on the Ministry’s website at www.moa.gov.jm and submit comments by email to [email protected].