Damion Mitchell, News Coordinator - Radio

Rowan-Campbell

Jamaica could miss its target to complete the European Union (EU)-funded three-year National Organic Agriculture Enhancement project because of failures at the government level.

This means that the country could lose further funding from the EU in this regard.

The Agriculture Ministry was coordinating, for more than a year, the project which is being funded through a $20 million grant. However, in May, the ministry transferred the responsibility to the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM).

One aspect of the project involves the development of an organic agriculture policy.

It will set certain standards for the industry and outline sanctions against people who make false claims that their products were organically grown, meaning they were grown without chemical fertilisers and under certain conditions.

The policy will also offer protection to people who purchase foods labelled organic which are in fact not so.

First draft pending

But, according to Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, a director of the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM), the first draft of the policy is yet to be completed by the Agriculture Ministry.

"We have to wait on the Ministry of Agriculture to get that policy drafted and then we can start the dialogue," she told a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Thursday.

Agriculturalist Tracy-Ann Logan also sits on the board at JOAM and she is eager to see the project progress at an acceptable pace. "It's a long road that we have been travelling for a long time now," she said.

Ms. Logan said the Organic Agriculture Enhancement project also included training, research and seed production. It also made provisions for interventions in schools, but she said with only just over a year to go before the end of the project, this may not be attained.

Another board member at JOAM, Raymond Martin, said the limited capacity of the extension services in the Agriculture Ministry made it more difficult for more farmers to learn about organic farming.

"The extension service is very limited," he said. "There is no way that the few persons who are called extension officers are going to be able to serve all the farmers."

damion.mitchell@gleanerjm.com