Above: a farmer at a ginger greenhouse (JIS Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries says a new project to grow turmeric and ginger launched last year is yielding strong results.

The project, begun in February 2012, has helped 384 farmers cultivate 422 acres of turmeric and ginger, earning a total of $3.05 million.

The Ministry is looking to expand the project to produce as much as 100 percent of current demand for the products by 2014.

The island-wide project has been primarily in Clarendon, St Thomas, Trelawny, Portland and St James, with four greenhouses established in Orange River, St Mary, Bodles, St Catherine and Montpelier.

“There is growing global demand for both ginger and turmeric,” said Sylburn Thomas, general manager of the export division at the Ministry of Agriculture, said in a government release.

He said there is current demand for 21,000 metric tonnes of Jamaican ginger, and 676 metric tonnes of Jamaican turmeric. That has an overall value of about $33.4 million.

Each month, the project has employed just over 1,000 unskilled workers, the government said.