Dear Editor,
Last year, Jamaica imported a billion dollars' worth of red peas. Jamaicans love red peas in rice and peas or in stew peas dishes. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Donovan Stanberry, said that we cannot compete with Belize, given their scale of red peas production and level of mechanisation. He also pointed out that Jamaica has legal obligations to Caricom.
Jamaica is engaged in an Extended Fund Facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. Yes, we are passing the tests, but as former Prime Minister P J Patterson pointed out, that is not enough. We need to grow the economy in order to replenish social services which are collapsing. The Mandeville hospital right now needs a piece of equipment used to pin broken bones; the cost is $20 million. If we can reduce importation of goods like red peas, then we can use the foreign exchange to do other things.
Jamaica is engaged in an Extended Fund Facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. Yes, we are passing the tests, but as former Prime Minister P J Patterson pointed out, that is not enough. We need to grow the economy in order to replenish social services which are collapsing. The Mandeville hospital right now needs a piece of equipment used to pin broken bones; the cost is $20 million. If we can reduce importation of goods like red peas, then we can use the foreign exchange to do other things.
Here is where the new Minister of Agriculture Derrick Kellier and the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell can help. There is a new type of farming known as indoor farming -- not greenhouse farming -- that is threatening to revolutionise how we grow crops.
Phil Torres, the host of TechKnow, discussed it with Al Jazeera. The indoor vertical farm industry is best suited for a warehouse space. There are towers of farm-fresh produce. There are columns of luscious greens bathed in a bright pink glow. The glow is as a result of thousands of red and blue LEDs and is one of the major innovations driving controlled environment agriculture. Photosynthesis occurs at red and blue wavelengths on the visible spectrum. Lights are engineered specifically for leafy greens and maximise photosynthesis value. The plants are protected from pests by walls rather than chemicals. Indoor farming doesn't use any pesticides, crops can be harvested up to 20 times per year, it uses 98 per cent less water and 70 per cent less fertilisers than outdoor. It is expensive to set up, but the crops are fresh and growing cycles can be cut in half. In starting up, plants are exposed to light 16-18 hours a day. It would be good if both ministries collaborate and carry out experiments to see how well this works and, apart from food crops, this seems suitable for medical ganja growth. The lighting can be tweaked depending on the type of crops; this could supplement our agro-parks production and sounds like a worthy idea.
Mark Clarke
Siloah, St Elizabeth
Explore new technology in farming
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Last year, Jamaica imported a billion dollars' worth of red peas. Jamaicans love red peas in rice and peas or in stew peas dishes. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Donovan Stanberry, said that we cannot compete with Belize, given their scale of red peas production and level of mechanisation. He also pointed out that Jamaica has legal obligations to Caricom.
Jamaica is engaged in an Extended Fund Facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. Yes, we are passing the tests, but as former Prime Minister P J Patterson pointed out, that is not enough. We need to grow the economy in order to replenish social services which are collapsing. The Mandeville hospital right now needs a piece of equipment used to pin broken bones; the cost is $20 million. If we can reduce importation of goods like red peas, then we can use the foreign exchange to do other things.
Jamaica is engaged in an Extended Fund Facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. Yes, we are passing the tests, but as former Prime Minister P J Patterson pointed out, that is not enough. We need to grow the economy in order to replenish social services which are collapsing. The Mandeville hospital right now needs a piece of equipment used to pin broken bones; the cost is $20 million. If we can reduce importation of goods like red peas, then we can use the foreign exchange to do other things.
Here is where the new Minister of Agriculture Derrick Kellier and the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell can help. There is a new type of farming known as indoor farming -- not greenhouse farming -- that is threatening to revolutionise how we grow crops.
Phil Torres, the host of TechKnow, discussed it with Al Jazeera. The indoor vertical farm industry is best suited for a warehouse space. There are towers of farm-fresh produce. There are columns of luscious greens bathed in a bright pink glow. The glow is as a result of thousands of red and blue LEDs and is one of the major innovations driving controlled environment agriculture. Photosynthesis occurs at red and blue wavelengths on the visible spectrum. Lights are engineered specifically for leafy greens and maximise photosynthesis value. The plants are protected from pests by walls rather than chemicals. Indoor farming doesn't use any pesticides, crops can be harvested up to 20 times per year, it uses 98 per cent less water and 70 per cent less fertilisers than outdoor. It is expensive to set up, but the crops are fresh and growing cycles can be cut in half. In starting up, plants are exposed to light 16-18 hours a day. It would be good if both ministries collaborate and carry out experiments to see how well this works and, apart from food crops, this seems suitable for medical ganja growth. The lighting can be tweaked depending on the type of crops; this could supplement our agro-parks production and sounds like a worthy idea.
Mark Clarke
Siloah, St Elizabeth
Explore new technology in farming
-->