The Opposition is calling for a national agricultural plan to ensure the sector’s resilience to climate change.
Spokesman on agriculture and rural development victor wright says the plan must be carefully crafted and implemented.
He states that policy makers and practitioners must heed the call of science, to initiate measures to protect the environment, the integrity of the soil and safeguard water supplies.
According to him, without a national plan, agricultural development will be constrained, threatening food sovereignty and rural development.
He says the country is being increasingly impacted by longer droughts and warmer temperatures that have the potential to severely undermine Jamaica’s food security.
The agriculture spokesman says a national agricultural plan, must include developing sustainable irrigation systems, as rainfall has become exceedingly unpredictable and traditional rainy seasons are unreliable.
Mr. Wright adds that for a national plan to be successful, it must be supported by trained technocrats coupled with the monitoring of specific scientific parameters.
He was speaking at the 65th Hague agricultural and industrial show in Trelawney yesterday under the theme: agricultural resilience and adaptation to climate change.