National Plant Health Policy.

The National Plant Health Policy is a national policy with a cross-sectoral approach. The overall goal of the Policy is to establish a coordinated, sustainable and international compliant plant health system that ensures plant health, consumer protection, environmental health and food safety.
Farmers will be trained for the use of integrated pest management techniques.
The current plant health system will be improved in accordance with international standards and accordingly national plant health legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks will be harmonized. Food safety and phytosanitary standards will be met to develop and extend international trade. Phytosanitary systems will be developed through certification, control over import-export processes, quarantine, surveillance and pest risk analysis, to mitigate the introduction and spread of harmful alien pest species. Pest risk analysis will be conducted in line with the scientific advice and research in pest biology, pest surveillance and pest eradication, control and remediation measures. An efficient and coordinated system of surveillance will be established for the consistent and frequent collection and monitoring of information on pests. Phytosanitary measures will be taken for (i) cultivated plants in fields, plantations, nurseries, gardens, greenhouses and laboratories, (ii) wild flora, and (iii) plants and plant products in storage or in transportation. Environmental protection will be ensured against the harmful impact of invasive plant pests. A National Emergency Plant Pest Committee will be established to coordinate the response to pest incursions and outbreaks. In order to reduce the dependence on pesticides by farmers, sustainable integrated pest management strategies will be used and therefore the use of biologically based techniques will be promoted to reduce the levels of pesticide use in agricultural production. Public awareness and role of stakeholders will be raised in plant health and protection. Institutional capacity building will be enhanced in weed science, plant virology, plant pathology, bacteriology, mycology, nematology, and plant pest and disease epidemiology. The diagnostic laboratories in the Plant Protection Unit will be upgraded and modernized with adequate equipment and facilities critical for rapid and timely pest identification.
The Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries shall be the main institution responsible for implementation of this policy in cooperation with the National Plant Protection Organization and its complementary Agencies/Divisions, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority and Plant Protection Unit. Other Agencies such as the Pesticides Control Authority and Jamaica Bureau of Standards will also play key roles in the implementation of this policy. The Policy will be monitored by the Planning and Policy Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.