The Jamaican government announced Thursday that it has allocated 172 million Jamaican dollars (US $1.4 million) to revitalize the banana industry for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
The government said in a statement that starting April 1, one square mile of land (381 hectares) will be planted with the fruit and support will be provided to farmers in the area.
The revitalization project for the Jamaican banana industry began in September 2013 when it began receiving funds from the European Union.
It is expected that the project will continue until March 2017 in order to “combat poverty and improve revenues in communities dependent on banana production.”
Furthermore, the government will use the funds to increase its efforts to develop banana production for export, provide on-farm infrastructure support, implement a new credit scheme to support banana production and continue to develop new market opportunities for banana farmers.
As of December 2014, banana production in Jamaica had increased by 21.7 percent and 1,400 farmers had received training in improving crop production and controlling crop diseases like Black Sigatoka, according to government data.
Source: Fox News Latino