The Jamaican government, through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) under the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) II, has initiated the construction of a $124-million cold storage facility at the Content Greenhouse Cluster in Kirkvine, Manchester. This development is expected to serve over 1,500 local farmers and producers.
The facility will include two retrofitted 40-foot containers providing 135 cubic meters of cold storage and an additional 40-foot container for 67 cubic meters of dry storage. "We are doing it for all the different types of produce that we have in this area," stated Floyd Green, Jamaica's minister of agriculture, fisheries, and mining. The setup will also feature a processing area for weighing, washing, sorting, and grading produce, along with a photovoltaic solar system for energy needs.
Green added, "We will also be covering the cold storage so the roof structure will be utilized for rainwater harvesting," with plans to add a storage tank for 4,700 gallons of water. The Content Greenhouse Cluster, operational since 2018, has produced 45,000 pounds of bell peppers, grape and cherry tomatoes, purple cabbage, and broccoli from 20 greenhouses.
Omar Sweeney, Managing Director of JSIF, emphasized the agency's support for the Content Cluster since 2010, initiated under the REDI-I program in collaboration with the World Bank. "That agreement was to improve the livelihoods of people. The Bank offers more than money; it offers technical expertise such as resources for infrastructure such as this," he said.
The facility is anticipated to streamline the agricultural supply chain, manage surplus, and bolster sector resilience. Earl Williams, lead farmer at Content Greenhouse Cluster, noted the facility will store over 160,000 pounds of produce over eight months, reducing post-harvest losses.
Source: Jamaica Gleaner