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One hundred and sixty greenhouses have been established on mined-out bauxite lands in St. Ann, Manchester, Clarendon, and St. Elizabeth.
Executive Director of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI), Parris Lyew-Ayee, says vegetables are being cultivated in the the greenhouses - providing earnings of up to $3 million annually for the farmers.
He says marketing arrangements are made with hotels, supermarkets and other buyers, who pay market price for the produce.
The greenhouse project is part of the JBI’s Bauxite Community Development Programme aimed at promoting agricultural activity on reclaimed bauxite lands.
Mined-out pits are reconfigured and sealed to become catchment ponds for rainwater, which is channelled to holding tanks by solar-powered pumps.
Clusters of greenhouses are built around the ponds by farmers of prime vegetable crops, which are watered by drip irrigation from the holding tanks.
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