The diaspora, he said, is a significant contributor to Jamaica's development.

Tufton, who was speaking at the Atlanta Jamaica Association fund-raising dinner in Atlanta recently, said the island's biggest exports were its people and their accomplishments outside of the country have been shared by Jamaicans back home through areas such as remittances.

He said the "nation state of Jamaica", which includes the diaspora, numbers closer to five million people and the Government has adopted this view as part of its efforts to account for and provide services to all Jamaicans, wherever they reside.

Second to none

Citing the country's accomplish-ments in areas such as sports, music, and industry, Tufton explained that these achievements have created a brand that is second to none on a per-capita basis. As such, he pointed out that brand Jamaica must be leveraged and protected, together with creating value-added products from crops grown locally.

Tufton acknowledged that Jamaica supported international trade but was concerned that, as a small island state, "we were too vulnerable due to overdependence on imported food.

The challenge of food security is critical for any developmental model to be pursued by the country," he stated, while encouraging members of the Jamaica Atlanta Diaspora to promote the consumption of more Jamaican products and, where possible, invest in local agriculture.

While in Atlanta, Tufton met with the agriculture commissioner of Georgia to discuss possible collaboration, particularly within the area of agricultural investments; he also met with a delegation of Georgia agro-investors to Jamaica to examine possible investment opportunities in the sector.