Stanberry calls for increased investment in cocoa production

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and Member of Parliament for West Portland, Hon. Daryl Vaz, tasting cocoa offered by Michael Leckie (right), director of the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Association (JCFA), during a tour of the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Drying Facility in Spring Gardens, Portland, on Friday May 26. At left is Country Representative, World Bank, Galina Sotirova and others (from left) are Senior Field Operations Manager, Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Dwight Ricketts; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, and Principal Director, Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Winston Simpson.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, is hoping that with the deregulation of the cocoa industry through the establishment of the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Authority (JACRA) more persons will start investing in cocoa production.
Speaking at the handover of the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Drying Facility by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) in Spring Gardens, Portland, on May 26, Stanberry expressed disappointment that when the cocoa assets were advertised for divestment not enough local persons expressed an interest in acquiring them.
“Government has now divested itself of any role or responsibility in terms of planting, producing or exporting of cocoa,” Stanberry stated, and this will now open the door for private interests to invest, particularly in the export part of the industry.
He further noted that with passing of the JACRA Act, all the regulatory functions of the Cocoa Industry Board are now subsumed under JACRA, restricting Government’s role in the industry to that of regulation and monitoring.
In that regard, come July 1, when JACRA will become operational, groups like the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Association will now be free to apply for their licence to become bona fide exporters of Jamaican cocoa, said Stanberry.
Noting that cocoa was the only crop where demand outstripped supply not just locally but internationally, Stanberry said urgent work was required in terms of bolstering the production base as as production was the first rung of the value-added chain. Currently, Jamaica’s annual cocoa production fluctuates between 700 to 800 metric tonnes, while it has the capacity to produce as much as 2,500 metric tonnes.
In saluting the effort of the World Bank, through JSIF, in establishing the facility, Stanberry said the new facility will help the smaller players in terms of providing a place where they can take their cocoa to be processed. This, he said, is a positive development that must signal that it is time to plant more cocoa in Jamaica.
The $21.5m-facilitywas constructed by JSIF under its Rural Economic Development Initiative and will directly affect 25 cocoa farmers within the Hope Bay area and over 200 farmers in the parishes of Portland, St. Mary and St. Thomas. It will enable farmers to reduce post-harvest losses while increasing market access for Jamaica’s premium cocoa and includes construction of 3 solar dryers and rehabilitation of one, construction of a fermentation area, 6 fermentation boxes and an office, as well as rehabilitation of the bathroom.

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Contact:

Director, Communication & Public Relations
Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries
Hope Gardens, Kingston 6
T – 927-1731-50 / 618-7128; E: pr2@micaf.gov.jm; daoconnor@micaf.gov.jm
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