House sectoral debate hears agriculture recovery plan, transport critique, and culture-as-infrastructure pitch

The House of Representatives met on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, for sectoral debate business that featured the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, alongside contributions from the Member of Parliament for North West Manchester and the Member of Parliament for South St. James in her first sectoral address on culture and related matters.

At the start of proceedings the Speaker welcomed visitors, including a group from Mile Gully High School. A member raised concern about noise from a portable air-conditioning unit affecting audibility; the Speaker replied that full air-conditioning repair was in procurement. The Minister of Justice, speaking earlier in the broadcast day, urged motorists to follow the traffic code, pay fines promptly, and attend court only when contesting a ticket, noting that a large majority of parish court matters relate to traffic offences.

On the order paper, Green tabled a green paper on a national youth in agriculture policy. Notice was given of a motion to let the Standing Orders Committee hold hybrid meetings while preserving members’ usual rights, including voting. After a request tied to mining being within the agriculture portfolio, the Speaker allowed the minister additional speaking time beyond the standard allocation.

Green framed his presentation around long-term resilience. He said a draft ten-year national agricultural development plan, prepared with Food and Agriculture Organization support, was finished and released for public feedback, with copies to MPs and consultation via the ministry’s website. He reported domestic crop output of 811,244 tonnes in 2025, up 5.7 per cent on 2024 and the second-highest on record despite a sharp fourth-quarter fall linked to Hurricane Melissa. He cited agricultural losses from Melissa of $36.12 billion and referenced a World Bank estimate putting broader economic impact above $60 billion. He outlined recovery measures including irrigation restoration, free land preparation over more than 2,000 hectares, and targeted financial support across several crop and livestock lines, while acknowledging global cost pressures still affecting farmers.

He announced major protected-farming spending, drought mitigation including mini catchment ponds and extra water trucks, expansion of orchard and livestock programmes, and fisheries measures such as completing a recirculating aquaculture facility budgeted near $200 million, declaring two new marine sanctuaries covering 12,250 hectares, and introducing ticketable fisheries offences from September through coordination with tax and national security agencies. On mining he noted bauxite and alumina export figures, company investments, a pending cabinet response to a review of Discovery Bauxite arrangements, a planned June mission to China regarding Jisco and the Alpart plant in St Elizabeth, and steps on rare-earth potential in red mud, including seeking an Attorney General’s opinion and updating mining legislation.

The Manchester member, reappointed shadow spokesperson for transport and mining, attacked the absence of a comprehensive transport policy, cited an April 2026 withdrawal of bus services on a Kingston corridor amid tension with the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, and gave detailed JUTC financial and fleet-deployment statistics, including a figure of 221 buses deployed on 12 May 2026. He proposed a ten-point reform agenda covering bus capacity targets, taxi franchising, fares, parking, technology, enforcement, and governance integration. He criticised airport revenue securitisation and repeated calls for clarity on bauxite reserve life.

The South St. James member argued culture, entertainment, and information should be treated as core economic infrastructure, proposed democratising cultural benefits beyond Kingston, referenced recent global attention to Jamaican culture through a visiting influencer, and pressed for stronger creative-industry financing, intellectual property support, and modern digital communication policy. A point of order challenged unspecified allegations about media tax treatment; the Speaker allowed her to continue without naming a particular outlet.

Toward the end of the sitting the House leader moved to suspend sectoral debate until 19 May, when Labour and related presentations are expected, and the House adjourned.