The Jamaica Bauxite Institute staged “Castor Bean: Liquid Gold Untapped” on March 15, 2023 at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, Jamaica.
The forum was held in partnership with the IICA, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Transport and Mining, Compete Caribbean, Jamaica 4H and JAMPRO.
This session introduced the Bauxite Community Development Programme (BCDP) and its work since inception. It also provided information from Government agencies and the role they have played and are committed to playing in the Castor industry. It also featured The Minister of Agriculture, State Minister of Transport and Mining in addition to the Bauxite Community Councils who will provide an update of their activities and projects
This session focused on the agricultural aspect of the Castor crop: planting techniques, varieties and findings from research done on the plants thus far. This session was particularly critical for farmers who wish to maximize yield and is the first step towards establishing Castor as an economic crop. RADA was also critical in this session as they outlined the support available to Castor farmers.
This session was focused on processing and featured presentations from the Scientific Research Council, the University of the West Indies (UWI) as well as practicing processors in the industry who were invited to give presentations on their work
This session was focused on marketing of the industry. It featured presentations from Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) , the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) as well as the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC). It explored the business management side for individual operators as well as the global/macroeconomic side for exporters