Model Agricultural Production Limited, MAP, which grow crops for local and overseas consumption on leased land in Innswood, St Catherine, is projected to double the national onion yield from new methodologies used on its farms.

But it is still not happy with the achievement.

The business, which is headed by Israeli Gideon Siterman, wants to achieve the production numbers of onion farms in Israel, which yield 16 tonnes per acre – levels that are nearly three times Jamaica’s output, which is around 5.5 tonnes per acre.

Over the past two years, MAP has invested US$1.5 million in equipment, testing combination drip and sprinkler irrigation processes and doubling up on materials and chemicals used for land preparation, to raise its production levels.

“The other thing is that we have planted in higher densities than Jamaicans are accustomed to because the small farmer doesn’t have the ability to invest,” Siterman said in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.

Still, he is of the view that the yield projected by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, RADA, for the farm could have been higher, had the business received approvals from the Pest Control Authority for the importation of metham sodium, a chemical used to fumigate farmlands of worms and diseases before seeds are sown on the land. Pest Control is an agency of the Ministry of Health & Wellness.

“We prepared the land as best as we could under the circumstances, but it was not optimum because we didn’t fumigate, the expectations for yield would have at least been 50 per cent more if we did,” said Siterman.

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20210630/map-doubling-down-onions-expanded-acreages