KINGSTON, Jamaica — Government, through the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), led by its newly appointed eight-member board that is chaired by Dennis Boothe, is looking at long-term solutions to include brand protection and promotion to improve the coffee industry.
“We are currently awaiting the Board’s approval of the development plan for the coffee sector, which seeks to address brand protection and promotion; production and distribution of acceptable quality planting material; management of pests and diseases and product safety, said the Hon Daryl Vaz, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, who was representing the Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Hon Audley Shaw, at the launch of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day in Kingston on January 4, 2019.
For the first time, Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day will be celebrated annually on January 9 both in Jamaica and Japan, the largest importer of Jamaica’s Blue Mountain Coffee.
Noting that Jamaica’s coffee is valued the world over for its unique flavour and high quality and is one of Jamaica’s most valuable export commodities, Minister Vaz said Government’s vision for coffee is to ensure that Jamaica remains the producer of the connoisseur’s choice.
“We want to also place Jamaican coffee as an essential ingredient in the increased production of a range of value-added products such as liqueurs, candles, soaps, scrubs, sweets, chocolates and ice cream,” said Minister Vaz.
Among the priorities being worked on by JACRA are a reduction of the infringements on the Jamaica Blue Mountain and Jamaica High Mountain trademarks on the international scene as well as locally and variety monitoring to ensure adaptability, disease resistance and the maintenance of cup characteristics.
In collaboration with the World Coffee Research and PROMECAFE, variety trials have been carried out on two farms to date, one in the Blue Mountain region and the other in the Jamaica High Mountain region where approximately 20 varieties are being evaluated with quality evaluations slated to begin shortly.
The minister said JACRA is also developing a nursery policy that seeks to guide the way nurseries operate in order to adequately regulate and monitor the varieties which are cultivated. This policy, he said, is currently in its draft stage and will be completed by the first quarter of financial year 2019.
Other members of the JACRA board are John O. Minott, Coffee Representative and Deputy Chairman; Glendon Davis ,Cocoa Representative; Stephen Black, Coconut Representative, Horace Sherlock, Spices Representative; Gusland McCook, Acting Director General, JACRA; and Shaun Baugh and Sheldon Elliott of the MICAF.
