North Coast Hotel Boom Opens Door for Farmers, Says Agriculture Minister

Runaway Bay, St Ann, 24 June 2026

A wave of hotel construction along the north coast could open a large and lasting market for Jamaican farmers, but only if they can supply consistently and to a high standard, according to Agriculture Minister Floyd Green.

Speaking to farmers at a recent function in Runaway Bay, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining pointed to the scale of new hospitality development in St James and St Ann as a reason for growers to lift production.

Resorts rising on the north coast

In Montego Bay, the minister cited large resort projects including Moon Palace and Hard Rock, along with the Pinnacle towers. In St Ann, he highlighted the expansion of Bahia Principe and a planned Secrets resort in Richmond. More rooms, he argued, mean a steady demand for fresh local produce.

Hotels use large and regular quantities of Irish potatoes, eggs, peppers, onions and scallion, and Mr Green urged farmers to focus on those high-volume items first.

Consistency is the condition

The minister was clear that access to hotel kitchens depends on reliability. Buyers need products to be available week after week at a dependable quality, and farmers were told to treat agriculture as a serious business. He said the ministry is speeding up investment in infrastructure, including high-technology greenhouse hubs, to help growers maintain supply.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, speaking separately in Montego Bay, said the Government’s Tourism 3.0 framework aims to cut the amount of food hotels import. He described imported food as a leak of foreign exchange and said sourcing locally keeps more earnings in rural communities.

Farmers’ cooperatives in St James and St Ann are being encouraged to use the Agro-Invest Corporation network to secure long-term supply contracts with hotels.

What it means for rural communities

Large resort projects tend to bring jobs and fresh demand for housing to the communities around them. If more of the food served in those resorts is grown locally, the benefits could spread inland to farming districts, supporting incomes that in turn underpin rent, mortgage payments and home improvements.

For landowners with idle agricultural acreage in these parishes, the renewed push may also make productive farming a more attractive option than leaving land unused.

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