Jamaica’s agricultural sector’s resilience to climate change has been boosted with the handover of an upgraded US$200,000 seed bank facility at the Bodles Research Station that will improve the station’s ability to increase its seed-producing capacity as well as house seeds of climate-resilient crop varieties.
“This is important as it will enable us to have a faster recovery time for the sector in the event of natural disasters as the planting material will now be more readily available for use in the replanting exercises,” said the Hon. Audley Shaw, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.
The facility, which was refurbished with grant funding from the Inter-American Development Bank under its Pilot Program for Climate Resilience Programme (PPCR), is the first of its kind in the Caribbean and will also serve other CARICOM member states.
Speaking at the handover ceremony held at the Bodles Research Station in St. Catherine on October 23, Minister Shaw stated that with this facility, Jamaica will now be able to preserve both our local and regional biodiversity, which is important to the sector’s sustainability.
The facility is retrofitted to allow for testing during the field production process, extraction, cleaning, quality testing, treating and the proper storage of seeds to ensure the highest standards.
“What this means is that we will now be able to provide internationally certified seeds,” Minister Shaw said, noting that good quality seeds are the foundation for high levels of production and productivity.
In welcoming the facility, Dr. Lisa Myers Morgan, Principal Research Director, MICAF, noted that farmers are in dire need of this type of support as most of the seeds that they currently use are imported.
Under the PPCR, Jamaica will also benefit from the validating of climate-resilient production systems developed for roots and tubers such as sweet potato and cassava.
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