Going for growth - Stakeholders say major policy changes needed to move agriculture forward; Green confident sector on right path
Published:Monday | January 4, 2021 | 12:11 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Floyd Green is anticipating an excellent year for farming as he spearheads a number of initiatives aimed at insulating the sector against external shocks and extreme weather conditions, having learnt lessons from the pandemic and devastating year-end floods.
Green described 2020 as a year of mixed results for agriculture, given the seven per cent growth the sector saw in the first quarter before COVID-19 triggered disruptions in markets, especially in the tourism sector, which was virtually in hibernation for months and has still not recovered.
Based on his plans and projections, the minister believes he is on track to right-size agriculture this year.
“I am very optimistic about 2021 for agriculture. I have tasked AIC (Agro-Invest Corporation) and SCJ (Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings) to accelerate the pace at which land is put into production and to get more creative and innovative in attracting investment [and] also in providing technical support for the farmers who work in the agro parks ,” he told The Gleaner. “Again, what we are trying to do is to develop a market-driven agricultural sector that is research-based and is sustainable. So we are going to be doing the work in terms of connecting the markets to our farmers and ensuring that our farmers are always quite aware of the market that they are planting to, even before they plant.”
However, Jamaica Agricultural Society First Vice-President Denton Alvaranga and Trade Winds Managing Director Peter McConnell believe that some major policy adjustments are needed if agriculture is to see sustainable growth this year.
McConnell said that Jamaica should stop focusing on the international market and instead strive to achieve a greater level of food security and nutrition before sending produce overseas.
“Jamaican agriculture must focus on the local market first, instead of trying to produce bulk commodities to compete in the world market. That don’t make sense. We can’t do it; we (are) too small,” McConnell said.
“We must focus on our local market and make sure that our local needs are satisfied in full, whether is chicken, pork or goat. We import a lot of goat meat, so we should be encouraging the local goat farmers to produce enough goat meat so that we don’t have to import. That used to be the situation with pork, but some local companies have invested a lot in pigs. The local market is where we must focus on feeding ourselves because we cannot compete in the world market with anything, not even our famous coffee now, it get too expensive. We must feed ourselves. That is what I believe in – feeding ourselves,” he told The Gleaner.
Slashing seeds, food imports
Alvaranga is concerned about the growing food import bill, especially for legumes, which he believes can be produced in abundance locally at affordable prices.
He noted that since the devastating October-November flood rains, domestic agriculture has been recovering well, with vegetables coming into abundance, although tomatoes, sweet pepper and hot pepper are still in short supply. Cabbage, he added, was late in coming back, but lettuce, which had been flying high at $600 per pound, was now going for less than $100 per pound at the farm gate.
Condiments such as scallion are also making a return to the market with gungo peas, a traditional Christmas crop, being late this season and should come into full bearing within the first two months of 2021.
“What is bothering me somewhat is how we address our national food security, and I speak in respect of our planting material because the most important input as it relates to crop production is the seed. If there is no seed, you won’t need any fertiliser or chemicals,” Alvaranga said. “Therefore, for security of crops, we need quality seeds and right now most of our seeds – 90 per cent – are imported. Look at this situation now with COVID-19, who knows where we are going? Who knows how long it will last? And there may a worldwide shortage of planting material.”
He called for the implementation of the country’s national seed policy, which he said is still at draft stage. He insisted that a public-private sector partnership be pursued as a matter of urgency to facilitate the multiplication and processing of seeds.
Alvaranga believes that it was a retrograde step to close the Thetford Seed Farm in St Catherine, where seeds used to be processed in the 1980s. He acknowledged that some work is being done by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute to help Jamaica develop a seed back, but thinks the work being done in this area by different agencies is not coordinated.
“We need to move form talk to action. The process is impatient of debate because certainly, we need to ensure that that aspect of our production – the development of seed – has to be a priority going forward because we can’t continue to import seeds which cost a whole lot of foreign exchange. When you look at red peas, I would say that we are spending too much money importing legumes into Jamaica. Between red peas, gungo and cow peas, we should not be importing the vast volumes that currently prevail. It is a shame when one considers that we have our domestic varieties such as Miss Kelly, Portland red and round red.”
Challenges, opportunities
Green pointed out that the focus to ensure sustainability would centre on, among other things, providing greater access to farmers which will include expansion of irrigation systems, rainwater harvesting and construction.
“We will work with our farmers to ensure that they have the appropriate training and the technology to do protective agriculture, things like our greenhouse rehabilitation programme ... We will also be working with our international partners to see how we can accelerate the pace that we can provide some of the greenhouse solutions, especially with the technical support needed to ensure that they are put to good use and it doesn’t result in wastage.
Among the industries targeted for growth by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is dairy, which has been in serious decline, according to Green.
“We will be working strategically to see how we can grow the dairy sector, engaging the private sector, engaging small farmers and seeing how we can help them especially in terms of fodder, exploring how we can work with the private sector in terms of genetics, so we can get better yields. So a lot of that work will continue into 2021 in relation to the dairy industry,” he disclosed.
The dairy industry is also one earmarked for investment by Trade Winds, with McConnell disclosing that they have more than 240 heads of cattle, with more than half of them pregnant. He, however, pointed out that having taken a bad hit from the devastation of their citrus groves by disease, the company was bent on diversification.
“Our pineapple project is going well and so we are expanding it, and we’ve gone into sugar cane planting. I am associated with Worthy Park and they process sugar cane and we’re planting for them. I am experimenting with some sorghum to feed the cows that I have with some ferocious appetite, so I planted about 20 acres to try supplementing their feed with sorghum and putting in about 100 acres of irrigation, starting in January for the continued replanting of our citrus.
“In my 30-odd years of citrus, it’s two times disease wipe us out, so the second time, we said we have to diversify our agricultural base, so we’re not being a monocrop operation anymore. We’re diversifying and it should work well for us. We saw the demand for the pineapple, but you also know that when you have too much fruits on the market, you can juice it,” he said, a nod to Trade Winds’ juice-manufacturing operation with the Tru-Juice, Squeezz and Freshhh brands.