Stanberry lauds completion of St. Mary cold storage facility

Galina Sotirova (right), World Bank Country Manager for Jamaica, cuts ribbon for the St. Mary Multi-Purpose Cooperative Cold Storage Facility in Iterboreale, St. Mary, on Friday, May 26. Others from left are Winston Simpson, principal director, Rural Agricultural Development Authority; Dr Winston Green, Member of Parliament, South East St Mary; Donovan Stanberry, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries; Althea McFarlane, marketing officer at the St. Mary Multi-purpose Cooperative; and Dwight Ricketts, Senior Field Operations Manager, Jamaica Social Investment Fund. Funded by the World Bank to the tune of over $19.5m, the project is aimed at increasing the quality and volume of products sold by the farmers and was carried out in partnership with JSIF, RADA, and the St. Mary Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Donovan Stanberry had high praises for the St. Mary Multi-purpose Cooperative Cold Storage Facility, noting that it represented part of the consummation of the marriage between industry and commerce and agriculture and fisheries.
Speaking at the handover of the multi-purpose cold storage facility in Iterboreale, St. Mary, on Friday, May 26, Stanberry said that production would increase if farmers were properly organised and incentivised and were assured of having more facilities like the St Mary cold storage facility.
Noting that many industrialised countries have built their agricultural sector on a cooperative model, Stanberry called for cooperatives to be empowered while citing Canada’s dairy industry as an example of a country where a cooperative has played a leading role in the development of the industry.
World Bank Country Manager for Jamaica Galina Sotirova congratulated the farmers on their achievements to date and called on them to make the best use of the facility stating that it would only be sustained if they took care of it.
With the completion of the facilities, there has been a reduction of post-harvest losses from 30 per cent to 6 per cent. There has also been an increase in the number of greenhouse farmers who supply produce from five (5) in 2010 to 15 in 2016, the number of farmers from 10 to 60 as well as an increase in the number of crops marketed from 10 to 31.
The project was funded by the World Bank through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund Rural Economic Development Initiative programme to the tune of over $19.5m with a contribution of $4.08m from the community and includes a 141.5 cubic metre cold storage; dry storage capacity of 70.7 cubic metres and a 148.6 metre roofed processing area and fencing.
Capacity building training in facility management, disaster risk reduction and good manufacturing practices was also provided for the 70 farmers and 12 employees.
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