Pottinger THE TOP brass of the Jamaica Agricultural Society under returned president Hon. A. A. Bobby Pottinger will go into a retreat next weekend to brainstorm how to revitalise the organisation and increase its effectiveness islandwide.
Chief on the agenda will be the Society's lingering debt. Efforts are being made to commence repayment through an arrangement with FINSAC. Mr. Pottinger said that although the debt servicing will be one of the main issues, there will attendant issues such as how to keep the JAS viable financially, so that the organisation does not find itself in a similar position again.
The retreat is also expected to deal with youth in agriculture and Mr. Pottinger said his recent competitor in the JAS elections Norman Grant will be invited to deal with that issue as he was capable of 'bridging the gap'.
On the matter of the recent sour grapes between himself and Mr. Grant regarding allegations of impropriety in the JAS elections, Mr. Pottinger said that all that has been laid aside. "Mr. Grant and I are friends and our main aim now is to work towards the good of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, a cause to which we are both committed."
In trying to beef up the Society's coffers, a membership drive will be launched at the retreat which is expected to be held in St. Mary. "If we have a membership of 100,000 persons, we should be able to do many things on even just membership fees. If we charge $200 per member, that's a significant sum. We have to show the members of the JAS that it is important to be fully paid members and that this will go a long way in assisting to carry out the mandate. Government's subvention is not improving so we have to find creative ways of keeping the oldest farmers' organisation in Jamaica fully vibrant," he said.
The retreat will also be used to officially launch the praedial larceny programme. "What took place at conference was just a symbolic launch. At this retreat we will sit down with the people from the parishes and look at the parish committee structures that should be going in place. The police will be invited as well as members of the commodity boards. In addition, we are inviting people from all areas of the sector so that we will have specialised inputs. This retreat will define the way forward for the JAS," he said.
Mr. Pottinger said that while official figures from the recently held Denbigh show are not available yet, all indications are that the event recorded a profit. "I can safely say that we did not lose any money. That is a very good sign of the new direction of the JAS and we will be utilising grounds like Denbigh across the island more frequently throughout the year to generate revenue for the Society," he concluded.
