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Jamaica: Gov''t Aiming to Eliminate Cultivation, Introduce Farmers to Alternative Crops Source from: The Gleaner 04/08/2014 ![]() WITHIN THE next three months, the Government is expected to launch a strategy aimed at discouraging the cultivation of tobacco in Jamaica, as it seeks to regulate the production and use of the drug. Under the initiative, tobacco farmers, who are to receive training, will be introduced to alternative crops such as Irish potato, ginger, tomato, and other produce that have export value. Making the disclosure on Wednesday at the opening session of the two-day Inter-Ministerial Meeting on Tobacco and Trade at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, chief executive officer of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Lenworth Fulton, informed that these are to be grown in demonstration plots across the island. He said this measure was being undertaken given the pivotal role the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has in monitoring the cultivation of tobacco in the context of promoting food safety and security, and ensuring the sustainable development of a healthy and productive population. 496,000 pounds annualy Citing data from a 2011 survey conducted by RADA, Fulton noted that while the large-scale commercial production of tobacco almost disappeared during the early 1990s, there has been a resurgence in the cultivation of the crop. This has resulted in approximately 496,000 pounds of tobacco being produced annually. He said this increase in cultivation has been led by strong demand "in a mainly informal market for locally grown tobacco and to a lesser extent, the demand for tobacco for a small cigar-making sub-sector". Fulton lamented that this trend has continued despite Jamaica's ratification of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, as well as other measures implemented to control tobacco use in Jamaica. The Government, led by the Ministry of Health, has been actively working to strengthen the impact of tobacco control measures in Jamaica, leading up to, and following the implementation of the Public Health (Tobacco Control) Regulations, 2013 which imposed a ban on smoking in specified public places. The inter-ministerial meeting, organised by the Pan American Health Organisation/WHO in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, brought together high-level representatives of government ministries, departments, and agencies, and other stakeholders. Enditem |