Sabotage! - Hotels accused of boxing small farmers out of market

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

AGRICULTURE INTERESTS have accused hoteliers of undermining local farmers by refusing to enter into contracts for the supply of produce. But the tourism and hotel sector has denied the charge, while calling on farmers to get their act together.

Alvin Murray, general manager of the Christiana Potato Growers Cooperative , charged during a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Friday that some hotels were manipulating the pricing system by refusing to sign contracts with farmers - taking advan-tage of gluts and playing farmers against each other during shortages.

He urged hotels to sign contracts, thereby guaranteeing consistency of supply and price year-round, whatever the circumstances.

Murray was supported by Vincent Thompson, agricultural specialist with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund.

"The hoteliers behave as if the farmers are unable to supply when, in fact, this is not so. Hotels continue to treat the farmers as they did 50 years ago," Thompson told the forum, which was held at the offices of the Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative Association in Manchester.

"I did a survey with all the hotels in the Corporate Area and the eastern part of the island, and none of them is prepared to offer a contract, even though farmers are willing to reduce the price to have a continuous supply through the year for them.

"And what have they (hoteliers) been crying about? That they can't get a continuous supply."

Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), has defended the policy of its members to buy

agricultural produce from large distributors instead of individual farmers. He has described as impractical, the demand for hoteliers to deal directly with farmers on a one-to-one basis.

"We are in the business of providing meals at the best price for a number of people, every day. At Sandals (resort chain), we have signed an agreement with one man who buys from at least 50 farmers across the island, but other farmers say they are being left out," Cummings told The Gleaner.

"When you are providing 2,000 meals a day, you want to make certain that price, delivery and supply are assured. I don't quite follow their argument. Why in heavens would you want to sign a contract with a farmer to supply two things, say, tomato and scallion? You want a bigger distributor who can bring 20-30 items to the table," Cummings reasoned.

The JHTA president had this advice for the farming community: "They need to get themselves organised in cooperatives and then get a marketing manager, or someone who can market their produce, and ensure that they are supplied at negotiated prices," Cummings said.

"And it is not true that we are measuring the supply throughout the season and taking advantage of gluts and shortages. In many instances when there is a glut, we only learn about it afterwards. How do you explain everybody planting the same things at the same time, and when there is a glut, everybody complaining? That is because farmers are not communicating!"

However, Thompson argued that during visits to some of the top hotels in the Corporate Area, managers told him they deploy middlemen to Coronation Market in downtown Kingston to buy produce.

The JHTA president hit back by saying that while it might work for small properties with a maximum of 50 rooms, this method was not practical for hotels with 200-1,000 rooms or more.

"You cannot do that kind of subsistence purchasing," he insisted. "We want to buy their produce, so if they can organise, as the minister of agriculture says they will be doing, by creating central receiving points and make it easier for the sector to access produce, we will support them," Cummings added.