By Rochelle Williams
KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – Increased export earnings from hot pepper are among the projected outcomes from the soon-to-be concluded ‘Improving Phytosanitary, Food Safety and Market Access Opportunities along the Hot Pepper Value Chain in Jamaica’ project.
The project aims to support increased compliance to sanitary and phytosanitary standards for production and export of Jamaica’s hot pepper to the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), Canada and regional markets.
The project, which commenced May 2022, is scheduled to be completed July 31, 2025. It is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the government through the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ), in partnership with the ministry of agriculture, fisheries and mining.
Funding is provided through the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), a global partnership that supports developing countries to comply with international sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.
Parishes involved in the project are Clarendon, St Ann, St Mary, St Elizabeth and St Catherine. The project identified key resource gaps through a sector-wide assessment and is addressing these with targeted support to strengthen pest monitoring and plant health systems.
The handover of items to stakeholders on Monday at the Kingston offices of the BSJ marks a major step in helping stakeholders adopt more resilient practices and meet international standards, ensuring greater access to both local and export markets.
Project donor representative from the STDF, Pablo Jenkins, said the project is at the core of the STDF’s mission to help developing countries to improve food safety, animal and plant health capacity to meet international sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.
“By enabling countries to meet STDF requirements, international trade and agricultural products such as hot peppers can become a crucial driver for development and fostering economic growth,” Jenkins said.
To achieve this, work is under way to improve technical and resource capacity of local producers, inspection and regulatory bodies involved in sanitary and phytosanitary management and extension delivery to increase the capacity of stakeholders to adopt standards along the hot pepper value chain, increase the production of hot peppers and increase the export potential and market access opportunities for the sector.
To this end, farmers, extension officers and quarantine regulators have been provided with critical inputs. Hot pepper farmers received surveillance and monitoring tools to improve pest detection and field management.
The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will be equipped with similar tools to enhance extension support services across key parishes.
Meanwhile, the Plant Quarantine and Produce Inspection Branch (PQPI) received inspection and monitoring devices for better precision, and increased accuracy in pest identification and field diagnostics.
Items handed over include 40 high-quality magnifying glasses, 15 respirators and 30 cartridges, 40 yellow sticky traps, and 40 blue sticky traps.
In addition, 25 tablets and protective cases, 10 GPS units, and four inspection cameras were handed over to participating inspection bodies.
Meanwhile, Focal Point, BSJ, Tafara Smith, said the project was written with the aim of improving the phytosanitary quality of peppers locally.
“We had reports of interceptions of our peppers being exported, both processed and especially our raw peppers. The project was written with that intention to reduce those phytosanitary interceptions or improve our phytosanitary conditions and our quality of peppers, improve exports and develop the capacity of our local stakeholders,” Smith said.
The three-year project aims to improve compliance of food safety and plant health requirements along the hot pepper value chain to increase production and export to international markets.
It seeks to advance Jamaica’s hot pepper industry through achieving competitive, consistent, high-quality supply of fresh and processed products; meeting food safety and export requirements; sustainably meeting the increase in demand; increasing domestic and international sales; and enhancing the technical and resource capacity of local producers, inspection and regulatory bodies.
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