RADA officers receiving livestock management training from Mexico

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) is benefiting from best practices in livestock management from Mexico.

The support is being provided under a technical co-operation arrangement between the countries, coming out of a proposal submitted by RADA to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.

“It is really looking at the capacity-building of our livestock personnel and our stakeholders in the management of livestock in Jamaica,” Senior Livestock Specialist at RADA, Maxine Brown, told JIS News.

“While it may have a focus, especially for small ruminants, the principles of what we’re doing applies to other ruminants as well, in terms of beef or dairy animals,” she said.

The first phase of the two-year programme involved training conducted between September 2024 to November 2024.

Sessions were done online and included a translator.

Topics covered included animal genetics and reproduction, forages and the health management of sheep and goats.

Brown told JIS News that 13 livestock officers participated in the sessions, which were also extended to 26 extension officers, including four agricultural assistants.

“Though the programme is open for livestock officers, I wanted to really engage the extension officers to build their capacity to be able to provide efficient service to farmers, just to ensure that they can provide some solutions and some answers to persons,” she said.

“Now, if they go to a farm and the farmer has both crops and livestock, they can inform them of best practices that the farmer can implement. They can identify some weaknesses the farmer may have, give some advice or say this is something that the livestock officer really needs to follow up with,” she pointed out.

Activities under the technical co-operation arrangement will continue this year with a focus on Herd Management as well as use of the Groups for Livestock Technology Validation and Transfer (GGAVATT) Methodology.

Sessions are open to farmers, with scope for experts to visit to do hands-on activities as well as for personnel to receive further practical training in Mexico.

For details on the programme and how persons can benefit, agricultural stakeholders are being encouraged to reach out to the RADA Office in their parish.

Source: JIS