MP lauds St Bess fruit company

Floyd Green, the member of parliament for South West St Elizabeth, has pointed to a farm in Bluntas, St Elizabeth, which he said is a great example of the potential for agriculture in the breadbasket parish.

The farm, AUSTROJAM Ltd, grows and distributes watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, honeydew and cucumbers all year round. It is also involved in pig rearing.

"The community has already significantly benefited from AUSTROJAM," Green told the CENTRAL STAR. "At its high time, AUSTROJAM hires up to 40 persons, a majority of them from the area and surrounding communities, plus has a regular staff complement of around 15. Additionally, AUSTROJAM stands as a real-time example of what can be achieved through farming with innovation, and as such continues to inspire other farmers in the area to expand their operations."

The MP and agriculture minister Audley Shaw toured the farm last week.

Martin Zsifkovics, CEO of the farm, said AUSTROJAM is engaged in large-scale cultivation of fruits, utilising irrigation technology provided by the National Irrigation Commission. Shaw was impressed.

"What Martin is doing is showing that we have to take things to a higher volume level, so that we can cut down the importation of these critical fruits that we can produce here at a higher quality than what we actually import from abroad," he said.

"He is a source of inspiration to me, as minister, to say to other farmers that they should raise the volume levels and get rid of the importation of these [fruits] that we can produce successfully here in Jamaica," Shaw added.

Green said AUSTROJAM is an example of "what can be achieved in south St Elizabeth with a consistent supply of affordable water".

"And as such, we have to continue to drive for an expansion of the irrigated water supply," he said.