DR Damian Graham, general manager of Jamaica Producers (JP) Farms – a unit of JP Tropical Foods — said JP has developed a plan to quadruple fresh produce by 2019, ramping up over a three-year timetable.

Central to this plan is the introduction of a state-of-the-art ripening and cold storage centre at JP’s property on Retirement Road in Kingston which will be the distribution hub for the entire island.

The company is also planning to double the land under crop by year end 2016 in order to meet the target throughput in three years.

Investment in cold storage infrastructure is $70 million, while on farm capital expenditure and other costs are falling in the region of US$1 million, Dr Graham stated on Monday. Spend is inclusive of new operating systems – two new servers and software systems — for the farm production and distribution-chain monitoring.

The intent is to increase production fourfold and reduce automation, with Dr Graham noting that much of the production and monitoring process is now primarily manual.

JP Farms, the farming operation of JP Tropical Foods, is based in Agualta Vale, St Mary. The 3000-acre farm already has in the ground bananas, cassava, potato varieties, breadfruit and pineapple which will be the first fresh produce to roll through the new ripening and cold-storage centre. More root crops are also being considered.

The Kingston storage centre, for which ground is to be broken in January, will feature higher levels of automation, temperature control and more storage space. It is expected to be in use by June, 2016.

Chief Executive Officer of Jamaica Producers Group Jeffrey Hall told the Jamaica Observer that there will be less need for human contact which will vastly improve produce quality.

Jamaica Producers Group has interests in manufacturing, agri-business and logistics. The CEO said a major market being targeted is the hotel sector which represents over $1 billion in value. Hall said that between the new centre, the marketing and distribution plan, the aim is well within the company’s reach.

“What this is going to do is allow for high-volume, uniform fresh produce servicing both domestic and resort market, taking advantage of the new highway to make deliveries to the hotel market. We hope to position ourselves as the leading supplier of fresh produce,” he explained.

Hotels currently import most of their needs. In the long term, Hall stated, JP is aiming to become the main source of fresh produce to this market. Locally the company is also expected to increase the quality of fresh produce reaching the ordinary household in Jamaica. Improved quality, he added, is included in the company’s competitive advantage analysis.

Dr Graham said that for 2015, JP Farms is looking at results a little less than $1.4 billion in revenue, because of the impact of drought on the potato output.

Return on investment on all crops, he said, is pretty much in the same ballpark, with the company having developed the crop variety which will reduce risk even while returns are boosted.

“Overall we have improved the spread of risk and improved the value proposition.”

JP’s goal on farm is to double acreage under crop from the current 210 hectares to 420 hectares all by December 2016. Output itself is expected to increase by one third each year for the next three years.

The 2015 production of bananas will end at 7000 tonnes. This will move to 7200 tonnes in 2016, split between 60 per cent ripe, 20 per cent green and 20 per cent for chop production. Pineapple, which was planted in June 2015 will meet the 2016 market.

Cassava, at 600 tonnes for 2015 is targeted for improvement to 730 tonnes. Potato, the short-term crop, will end 2015, at 50 tonnes and will quadruple to 200 by year end 2016. Breadfruit takes three years to bear its first fruits, but JP also buys from farmers who currently lease another 210 hectares on the Agualta Vale farm with purchase contracts and technical support from JP.

For JP Farms, investment to support the new programme is split between $30-million capital expenditure and $60 million for biological assets including plant material and land preparation.

Drought-mitigation costs, Dr Graham said, came in at six per cent of budget and so far have resulted in 40 per cent savings in water. Insurance premiums for bananas in case of hurricane, also noted cost less than one per cent of budgeted spend.