JO - Jamaica to grow rice in St Catherine, St Elizabeth

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Jamaica to grow rice in St Catherine, St Elizabeth

BY MARK CUMMINGS
Observer senior reporter
cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, June 29, 2008

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Jamaica will this week begin the cultivation of 12 varieties of rice on 20 acres of lands in St Catherine and St Elizabeth on an experimental basis, in a bid to ascertain the variety best suited to be grown in the island.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"According to the agriculture minister, roughly 15 acres of the crop will be grown at BRUMDEC and Bouges in St Elizabeth, while the remainder is to be cultivated at Amity Hall in St Catherine.

The varieties being experimented with - which include 'sybonnet' from the USA and 'prosequisa' from Venezuela - are expected to yield between seven and 11 metric tonnes per acre.

The island has produced rice in fairly substantial quantities at various times in its history.

The crop has been historically grown in Westmoreland, St Catherine and St Elizabeth."

"(T)he yield from the varieties grown at that time, raged from four to six metric tonnes per acre.

The development of rice farming in those days, however, was inhibited by several constraints, mainly, the lack of an efficient rice-drying and milling facility."

"(T)he move to re-establish the cultivation of rice comes against the background of spiralling food prices and food security concerns."

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"The Ministry of Agriculture has projected that within the next 12 months at least 5,000 acres of rice would be under cultivation."