Modernise irrigation facilities

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The recent escalations of conflicts in the Middle East have made a number of countries revisit their food security plans. This also occurred during the global pandemic, as well as the conflicts in Europe.

Having had the privilege of working with a number of irrigation projects on the African continent. I have been able to see the transformative power of irrigation on a country's agricultural productivity.

Which is why the recent observations by the prime minister, which suggest that only about 16-20 per cent of the country's arable lands have access to sustainable irrigation, are quite abysmal.

After almost four decades in existence, the country's irrigation agency has only been able to provide irrigation to less than 20 per cent of the country's arable lands. This after billions of dollars in subsidies. This cannot be allowed to continue.

The entire approach to irrigation must be urgently revamped and, if Jamaica is to be placed on a path of food security and agricultural sustainability, the irrigation hierarchy must be quite simply overhauled. Farming is the one profession that impacts us all, regardless of status or creed, and the country’s sustainability is threatened when we lack the ability to provide the critical tools that the farmer needs. Water, quite literally, is life.

There is no excuse for the low rates of irrigation in the country, especially when there is a specialist agency whose sole purpose is the improve distribution of irrigated water and has been in existence for four decades.

Without making excuses and assigning blame, it is time for the country to get on with it. The farmers deserve better.

FARMER ANDY