THE MINISTRY of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is reporting significant success from an initiative developed as a response to the oversupply of fruits and vegetables due to the disruption of traditional markets by the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
State Minister Floyd Green expressed delight at the quick response and commitment of industry players to deviate from their usual course of business to develop another value chain for fruits and vegetables, with vast potential beyond the pandemic, with Trade Winds Citrus and Salada Foods Jamaica the first out of the blocks.
Trade Winds Managing Director Peter McConnell said that when the Government reached out to them for help, the company opted to have a go at tomatoes based on media reports of a glut.
“We said we have a processing facility that processes pretty much any kind of fruit and vegetables. We don’t really have a tomato product now; we would be happy to process tomato and develop a juice if you will use it in your school-feeding programme,” McConnell said they responded.
“So we got samples of the tomato and came up with a tomato-pineapple juice, which we gave the ministry samples of and gave them some pricing, and they were happy with the flavour and happy with the pricing.”
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