Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, has described the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) as the backbone of Jamaica’s agricultural system.
Consequently, he says the Ministry remains bullish on support for the Portland-based institution.
Speaking during a Founders’ Day event at CASE recently, Mr. Green highlighted the Ministry’s investment in the institution, noting that throughout his tenure, $20 million has been directly allocated each year to agricultural-related endeavours.
“We’re going to continue to support CASE. Our tertiary agricultural institution is what will set the framework for agriculture. It’s the institution that should be looking at research… it’s an institution that should be leading innovation,” he stated.
Minister Green lauded the recent partnership between CASE and the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine in the United States.
He noted that the collaboration will give CASE students the opportunity to pursue veterinary medicine studies at the international institution.
“I love the partnership with Tuskegee, because our ultimate goal must be that CASE must transition to be a University of Agriculture. We can’t be the Caribbean’s leading agricultural space for so long and not have a world-renowned university right here,” the Minister said.
“In so doing, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We have the partners already at the table that can help us build out those programmes so that we can get there quickly. That is something that we have set up as part of the vision for agriculture,” he added.
Mr. Green challenged students currently studying at CASE to think of themselves as the future leaders in agriculture.
“The reality is that the climate has changed. But I don’t want you to see it as an obstacle. I want you to spend your time here thinking of solutions that we can implement. I am looking to you to help us solve our problems,” the Minister said.
“We want you to really be telling us about precision agriculture. We want you to drive AI (artificial intelligence) around agriculture. You are the people who will modernise, transform and create a truly new face of food,” Mr. Green added.
