A REPORT on agricultural production and marketing carried by this newspaper on Thursday, while not without rays of hope, is by and large dismal. The statistics with regard to sugar and coffee are troubling.
Sugar has, with little interruption, been on the decline for a long time, and unless the commission now studying it can come up with something akin to magic there is no reason to get our hopes up.
The steep decline in coffee production may be somewhat of a different case. To really assess the situation we need a pattern of figures and not only one for the instant crop. Coffee might well be more susceptible to the vagaries of the weather, for example, thus one season might or might not be indicative of a pattern.
We don't want to position ourselves as an enemy of sugar but when its decline has been so long and its economy so compromised it must be time to face the truth. Lore and nostalgia are not substitutes for sound economics.
It is heartening to note the increases in the production of minor crops such as pumpkin and tubers. Of course these are hardly contenders to replace any major export crops, but they might be important at another level: the opportunity they might point to in crop diversification. But such prospects will not be realised without serious attention to research and development.
Exciting things are happening around the world which have the potential to revolutionise a whole range of crops. We ought to be abreast of them.
While business acumen is important in most areas of agriculture, in the case of sugar, for example, science and technology might be even more critical inputs.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
