Headlines:
| Gov’t to help banana and cane farmers cope with fertilizer increases |
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| Tuesday, 04 March 2008 | |
Help is coming for stakeholders in the sugar cane and
banana sub-sectors who have been slapped with a 30 per cent increase in
fertilizer prices.In Parliament Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton said alternative arrangements have been worked out to give some reprieve to farmers in these sectors. "In the case of banana farmers they will benefit from the free supplies of fertilizer to be delivered within a week or a few weeks under the Hurricane Dean Rehabilitation Programme funded by the European Union Banana Support Programme," said Dr. Tufton. "With respect to the sugar industry the ministry will provide an additional $25 million subsidy through the Jamaica Cane Farmers Product Sales Limited under an arrangement similar to what was executed under a $50 million programme," Dr. Tufton noted that Jamaica is concerned about the worldwide trend of escalation in fertilizer prices specifically as it related to raw materials. Some of these have seen price increases from US$200 per ton last year, to US$237 per ton up to February 2008. The minister also indicated that the price hikes are expected to continue for some time, but government is exploring other options in terms of sourcing cheaper supplies. "The government is far advanced in examining cheaper raw materials from a number of sources but most encouragingly from Venezuela and we hope that based on these discussions that are currently taking place with Venezuela that we may be able beyond March to offer additional support by forcing relatively cheaper raw material for the mixing of the fertilizer," he continued. |