The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) will be putting in place a toll-free line, which will allow farmers to voice their concerns, and make suggestions regarding the production and marketing of agricultural produce.

"That will allow both farmers and the general public to call in to RADA, to provide information on any areas of concern on the production process, and that, we think, will be a critical part of the information flow that will address the critical concerns that we still have," said Minister of Agriculture, Dr Christopher Tufton, at a national accountability seminar on Monday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel.

He informed that a Marketing Unit has been established within the Ministry, to strengthen opportunities for farmers to promote and sell their produce. The work of the unit will be complemented by the marketing officers in each parish.

Production information

"That unit is going to track the production information to establish a link with end-users," Tufton explained.

"In fact, we are about to launch a web-based facility that will see weekly emails going out to purchasing managers ac-ross the end-user field or agro-processors, so that they know things like availability, prices, which we do weekly now, so that we can create information to link what is happening in the field with what is happening at the level of usage," he further outlined.

Agenda items

The seminar, organised by the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture, sought to bring stakeholders together to discuss and agree on agenda items that are critical to the agricultural sector.