Okeito Thompson wants to sit down with Minister of Agriculture Audley Shaw to speak about the future of young people and increased production in the sector.

“I am speaking on behalf of a lot of young farmers and other young people who want to get in agriculture,” Thompson, a farmer of Coley Mountain in Manchester and the recipient of the 2019 Prime Minister's Award for Agriculture, told the Jamaica Observer.

“Under your ministry you can identify land specifically for young people wanting to go into agriculture and also approach banks so that we can have easier access to funding,” Thompson said in his call on the agriculture minister to act.

We are crying out for an agriculture fund,” said Thompson who, along with the Prime Minister's Award for Agriculture, was also Nutramix Ambassador in 2019.

The distribution problem faced by farmers with the recent shutdown of activity in the tourism sector due to coronavirus restrictions is another situation forcing the need for a talk with the agriculture minister.