House sectoral debate highlights agriculture recovery, transport crisis and culture policy

The House of Representatives resumed its sitting on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, continuing the sectoral debate with contributions from the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, the opposition member for Manchester Northwestern, and the member for St. James Southern in her maiden sectoral address.

Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert opened proceedings after prayers, noting presentations from Minister Floyd Green, MP for St. Elizabeth South Western, and opposition members for Manchester Northwestern and St. James Southern. She called for stricter chamber decorum after what she described as unusually loud cross-talk. A green paper titled National Youth in Agricultural Policy was laid on the table. The House approved hybrid meeting arrangements for the Standing Orders Committee and suspended standing orders to take related motions. An opposition member complained that a portable air-conditioning unit was drowning out speeches; the Speaker said permanent repairs were in procurement.

Green received an extra ten minutes at the opposition's request to cover mining after his agriculture and fisheries presentation. He titled his report "Growing Forward" and said a draft ten-year national agricultural development plan, developed with the Food and Agriculture Organization, was complete and open for public and parliamentary feedback.

He reported that domestic crop output reached 811,244 tons in 2025, up 5.7 per cent and the second-highest on record despite Hurricane Melissa, which he said caused about $36.12 billion in agricultural losses. Recovery measures included restored irrigation, free land preparation on more than 2,000 hectares, and input support. He said first-quarter 2026 vegetable production was the highest first-quarter figure on record. The ministry earmarked $1.2 billion for production and productivity programmes, $800 million for 95 greenhouses across four parishes, and continued agro-park expansion nationwide. A national youth-in-agriculture policy was tabled as a green paper.

On fisheries, Green said ticketable offences would be introduced from September under arrangements with tax and national-security agencies. On mining, he cited 2025 bauxite and alumina export earnings of US$612 million, ongoing investor spending, a June mission to China on Alpart/JISCO, and advanced talks on commercial rare-earth extraction from red mud.

Manchester Northwestern MP Mikael Phillips, shadow minister for transport and mining, argued that public transport was in crisis without a national policy. He said only 221 Jamaica Urban Transit Company buses were deployed on 12 May 2026 against an optimal near 450, highlighted cumulative JUTC losses exceeding $100 billion over a decade, and referenced an April 2026 operator protest over JUTC competition on licensed routes. He pressed for a published transport plan, fair-pricing reform, and faster ride-hailing regulation, recalling the 2024 killing of educator Daniel Anglin after using a ride-share service. He also criticised securitisation of airport revenues.

The St. James Southern MP, speaking in her first sectoral contribution on culture and information, switched from Jamaican Creole to standard English after a ruling on standing orders. She urged treating culture, entertainment and public information as economic infrastructure, proposed heritage tourism around National Hero Sam Sharpe, and called for structured creative-industry investment, entertainment zoning, and clearer media and government-communication oversight. Government culture minister Olivia Grange was acknowledged though she had not yet spoken in the debate sequence.

House Leader Juliet Holness thanked the three presenters and moved to suspend sectoral debate until 19 May, when the labour minister and members for Clarendon Northern and St. Catherine South Eastern are scheduled to contribute. The House then adjourned.