Agro Grace saw the need to back the Jamaican farmer long before everyone was talking about importing less. Nearly two decades ago, the staff at the stores noticed how often farmers were complaining about poor seed performance.
Since that time, Agro Grace has been sending technical advisors across the island to educate farmers. They hold seminars and demonstrations on topics such as land preparation, planting, how to plant at proper distances and chemical use. The technical staff promotes these meetings with posters, by advertising in agricultural stores and through Rural Agricultural Development Authority offices.
The technicians often work in conjunction with expert government bodies like RADA or the Ministry of Health, and sometimes take field days to consult with farmers and investigate crops. They distribute vegetable seeds, fruit seeds and chemicals to the farmers and make them a part of crop trials. This means that most foods in the Jamaican market today have been previously tested by Agro Grace. One of the latest results of these trials has been the Tyranus tomato. This tomato is large in size, matures in 75 days, stays ripe longer and is resistant to certain diseases.
The degrees of success that technical services have had may be measured by the change in behaviour of farmers. For example, in St. Elizabeth – often known as Jamaica’s breadbasket parish – farmers choose to buy hybrid seeds rather than open-pollinated seeds despite the fact that hybrid seeds are more expensive. Their choice is based on trial and error and the information passed on to them by the Agro Grace technical advisors. Farmers in St. Elizabeth use hybrid seeds because now they know these produce more in a short time and are resistant to disease.
Technical services are for the most part funded by Agro Grace with some contribution from its partners. The company sets aside a certain amount of its budget each year to provide farming communities with these services. In addition to all of this, farmers also have a representative in the company’s marketing department. This person makes contact with hotels on behalf of the farmers to ensure they have a market for their produce.
GraceKennedy, parent company of Agro Grace, continues to look forward to the Jamaican farmer’s future. Early next year the company will establish a flavour extraction plant in Hounslow, St. Elizabeth. This plant will produce new flavours for Grace beverages using real Jamaican produce. The company has already had some success in this area of agribusiness. It extracted unique flavours from crops to launch the new Grace beverage line, Grace Tropical Rhythms Refreshers.
