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GOING FOR GROWTH FEATURE
| THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015
A
NEW revenue stream is opening up
for Jamaican farmers as the
University of the West Indies is
looking for an additional 70,000 tonnes of
cassava root each year.
The university has successfully piloted a
programme to substitute locally produced
cassava flour for imported wheat flour,
which could shave off up to US$6 million
(approx J$690m) from Jamaica’s annual
import bill.
“We have set a modest target of
substituting 10 per cent of imported wheat
flour with cassava flour,” university
researcher Dr Ian Thompson told
The
Gleaner
.
“So instead of spending U$6 million to
support wheat farmers outside of Jamaica,
let us invest these funds to support our
local farmers and production,” added
Thompson.
Already National Bakeries has expressed
an interest in the programme but warns
that the price would have to be right.
“National is looking at creating products
with cassava flour,” said Stephen Sykes,
director of operations at the baking
company.
“We already do a cassava bread but more
work needs to be done to make the product
affordable,” added Sykes.
He noted that cassava flour is now three
times more expensive than wheat flour and
argued that to reduce the price the
university would need to increase the
volume dramatically.
Thompson agreed that local farmers
would have to up their production, but he
believes this is possible.
He argued that arrangements can be put
in place to ensure that the price the farmers
receive for their cassava would be reasonable
and attractive enough to get Jamaicans to
substitute cassava flour for wheat flour.
“It may not be possible to offer cassava
flour for a lower cost, but we believe that
we can approach price parity, and so this is
the reason for investing in a pilot plant to
complete the feasibility analysis, using
technology appropriate to our needs, and
for establishing model cassava farms to
optimise production,” said Thompson.
CONTRIBUTED
National Baking Company’s chairman Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson (right) joins
Port Authority of Jamaica head Professor Gordon Shirley (second right) as a
University of the West Indies official explains the process during a visit to its
pilot dehydration plant in St Elizabeth.
W
ITH SOME $54 billion
invested in the tourism sector
over the past three years,
scores of jobs are now available for
qualified Jamaicans.
In the latest development, the largest
Spanish hotel chain, Melia Hotels and
Resorts, recently announced that some
400 permanent jobs will be created at the
former Braco Village Resort in Trelawny,
which will be known as the Melia Braco
Village when it reopens in December.
Between 200 and 300 jobs will be
available during the refurbishing and
construction stages, and the
management of the property has already
indicated that it is relying on Jamaicans
to fill these positions.
“I consider it my solemn duty to assure
that we’ll optimise the Jamaican labour
force,” said the hotel’s general manager,
Dimitris Kosvogiannis, at the recent
ground breaking.
“There is no one that can convince me
... that Jamaican human resources do not
produce very capable and highly
intelligent individuals that can sit at the
helm of any organisation,” added
Kosvogiannis.
In welcoming the entry of the Melia
chain into Jamaica, Tourism and
Entertainment Minister, Dr Wykeham
McNeill, argued that this was a show of
confidence in Jamaica and in brand
Jamaica.
He noted that Melia is entering
Jamaica when the tourism sector is on a
high, with hotels reporting very good
occupancies.
“At this point in time, tourism in
Jamaica is very positive. Arrivals are up,
the hotels are full, and the airports are
bursting at the seams. When your
occupancies are up, it drives demand and
when you drive demand, you drive
investments and we are now seeing the
fruits of that investment,” said McNeill.
The investment of Melia into Braco
Village includes refurbishing of the
existing 225 rooms and other buildings,
as well as the addition of 250 new rooms,
bringing the room count to 475.
The tourism minister pointed out that
Melia’s investment forms part of the
growth in the sector in recent years.
“The investments that we have on the
books now will see the addition of
another 1,600 new rooms to Jamaica
over the next 18 months and a number
of those rooms are right here in Trelawny
... and this investment is important
because it creates jobs,” added McNeill.
CA$$AVA
National Bakeries urges farmers to increase
production of in-demand root crop
For training in
hotel industry
There are several entities
offering training in tourism and
the hospitality sector in Jamaica.
Here are just a few.
HEART Trust/NTA: HEART
College of Hospitality Services
(HCHS) – 973-6671-4
UTech: School of Hospitality
and Tourism Management– 927-
1680-8
UWI: Centre for Hotel and
Tourism Management (CHTM) -
927-1660
NCU: College of Business and
Hospitality Management – 963-
7423
Look to tourism!
Workers needed for expanding hospitality industry
FILE
Students of the
Runaway Bay
Heart Academy
watch as
Sandals
Whitehouse
Sous Chef,
Marlon Williams
(right), creates
one of his
unique fruit
carvings inside
the Sandals
Whitehouse
booth at the
2011
Westmoreland
Expo.