RADA

4 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 RURAL AGR I CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHOR I TY financing, outdated technology, and inadequate market infrastructure. The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) was established in 1990 to address these challenges. RADA is a government agency responsible for providing technical and extension services to farmers in Jamaica. The agency’s primary objective is to promote sustainable rural agricultural development by providing farmers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and technology to improve their productivity and income. Its activities include Soil Testing and Analysis, Plant Health, Crop Production and Management Trainings, Engineering Services, Social Service & Home Economics, Land and Animal Husbandry, and Marketing Assistance. The agency also provides information and advice on new technologies, crop varieties, and agricultural best practices through a network of extension officers throughout Jamaica. Business View Magazine spoke to the RADA acting chief executive officer Winston SCAN FOR DETAILS Simpson to discuss the agency’s impact on the country’s agricultural fortunes. Business View Magazine: Let’s start by discussing the importance of RADA in Jamaica. Winston Simpson: RADA maintains a farming register platform with over 200,000 registered farmers, enhancing accountability across the entire agricultural production value chain. This has helped RADA gain traction in ramping service delivery, stimulating sustainable growth. Notwithstanding international and logistic challenges, RADA provides the undergirding that supports farmers from land clearance to harvesting through extension services. From a strategic position in terms of scope and ability to enhance agricultural production, RADAs customer demand has increased. As such, our mandate from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is to spearhead a process of realigning, restructuring, relocating, and rebranding the authority to meet this demand. With challenges like the recent pandemic and the war in Ukraine, both affecting the global agricultural supply chain, RADA is bridging that gap to ensure farmers continue production on time to guarantee food security for our population. Business View Magazine: How would you characterize the health of the agricultural sector in Jamaica compared to how it was at the height of the pandemic? Winston Simpson: During COVID, RADA played a critical role in ensuring food availability, that distribution was at its peak, and that farmers continued production. As a result, we had no food shortage during that time. For example, RADA established a buyback program that bought farmers’ excess produce. Working alongside purveyors, we distributed it to the less fortunate and institutions like hospitals and schools.