As the island continues to experience a longer-than-usual dry spell, the Ministry of Agriculture has sought to assure the public that its buyers mission to attract overseas importers of local fresh produce, through the agricultural competitiveness programme, will not affect local supply.

Marketing consultant at the ministry, Derrick Deslandes, said Jamaicans can continue to expect their usual supply of local produce, as systems have been put in place to address the issue.

"The development of the agro-parks is an attempt to address this, and we have, so far, established nine agro-parks, six of which are crop-based," he said, at a recent JIS 'Think Tank'.

"The drought has been a wake-up call and the agro-parks is one way to address that, but the programme has to be extended beyond the agro-parks. Most farmers who produce for the local market do not have access to water and]whenever there is a shortage of rain, they are affected," Deslandes added.

To deal with the dry spell, he said there are several programmes within the ministry that are geared towards water harvesting and water storage, as a means of providing farmers with the ability to sustain themselves.

"In some of the areas, such as Trelawny, they are putting in black tanks and small-scale irrigation schemes to try to improve the farmers' access to water.

"They are also looking at ways to harvest more water so when there is rainfall, they catch that water, because the reality is that, even if we get a very heavy shower, it goes to waste," he said.

Deslandes said there are plans to put another 20,000 acres of irrigated land into production.

Fresh-produce buyers from the United States, specifically Miami, visited the island recently and toured the agro-parks at Plantain Garden River and Yallahs, St Thomas; Amity Hall, St, Catherine; Ebony Park and Spring Plains, Clarendon; and Duff House, St Elizabeth, and met with the farmers.

Coming out of those meetings, one buyer, Carlos Capote of JC Tropicals, said he has placed an order for guineps.

Deslandes said the sustainability of the programme will ultimately depend on relationships formed between farmers and buyers.