Jamaican production down 43%

Chief technical director for Jamaica’s Ministry of Agriculture, Dermon Spence, told the Jamaica Observer that preliminary figures for 2014 show a 43 percent decrease in tobacco cultivation when compared to 2011, the most recent year, prior to 2014, for which a survey was done.

“The last survey we did was in 2011 and it showed that the actual number of farmed acres was 311. The preliminary data for 2014 showed a decrease to 175. The actual number of farmers also declined, from 573 in 2011 to 488 for far this year,” he said.

While taking some credit for the decline in production, the ministry acknowledged that historically, Hurricane Gilbert and the relocation of tobacco companies to Trinidad and the subsequent loss of cultivation contracts made significant dents in the amount of tobacco planted on the island nation.