KINGSTON, Jamaica – Agro-parks must be good things. Roger Clarke, the agriculture minister, talks about them a lot. So, too, does Peter Phillips, the finance minister.
Indeed, in these hard economic times, in which he is facing the strictures of the International Monetary Fund, Dr Phillips is allowing the agriculture minister to spend more than J$1 billion on these parks.
Both men believe that the agro-parks, eight of which are supposed to be established by the Government, will be transformational. They will modernise agriculture, help to cut the island’s near US$1-billion food import, even increase exports and, important, create jobs.
