The Jamaican government has struck a new deal with banana producer and processor Jamaica Producers (JP).
Under the arrangement announced by agriculture minister Roger Clarke and worth some J$100 million (£693,000), JP must work with local farmers for the production of banana chips.
The Jamaican farm ministry has also set aside a J$12m facility to enable growers to access loans at preferential five per cent interest rates.
Clarke noted that up to US$8m worth of banana chips were imported into Jamaica over the past two years. He said: “That must not happen, it must stop.” The Jamaican finance ministry has also slapped a 15 per cent stamp-duty tax on the importation of banana chips.
The Jamaican government has also ear-marked J$50 million to provide seeds to banana growers and announced that they will pay subsidised rates of 50 per cent for fertilisers.
Clarke was speaking in the parish of St Mary, which has long been an important agricultural area. He said that the administration is working to get the area back on its feet after the devastation caused by hurricane Sandy last year.
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