EDITORIAL: Declare a state of emergency for agriculture

At the Denbigh showgrounds over the next few days, agricultural interests will preen about recovery in the sector and make pretty speeches about its future.

The impression that agriculture is in reasonably good health is, however, a gross exaggeration. Not only are recent improvements coming from a low base, but as economist Dennis

Morrison reminded in these pages a fortnight ago, for many crops, Jamaica’s production is now lower than a half century ago.

Moreover, with its high rate of joblessness and chronic poverty, the rural economy is in deeper crisis, broadly speaking, than what obtains nationally.

There are good economic reasons for fixing agriculture. But any such effort cannot be the puttering, piecemeal approach of the past. There must be, we insist, the declaration of an agricultural state of emergency.

In other words, there has to be a sustained focus from stakeholders, as well as the imposition of extraordinary measures, where necessary, to protect domestic production.

Jamaica spends over US$800 million a year importing food, a third of which the agriculture ministry estimates could be replaced or substituted from domestic sources. That would represent a saving of over US$260 million, less pressure on the balance of payments, and cause domestic investment and job creation.

But such things don’t just happen. And certainly not in the context where Jamaican produce cannot compete with foreign imports, some of it subsidised and /or dumped, and when only 39 per cent of the country’s agricultural output goes to further processing, compared to approximately 60 per cent in Costa Rica.
mass mobilisation

We, in this context, would support utilising to the maximum, tariff and other protection allowable under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, as well as the introduction of other reasonable, even if unorthodox, regimes. These would be supported by a mass mobilisation effort towards domestic consumption.

But the agricultural transformation we perceive cannot be achieved with a slew of aged subsistence farmers with forks and hoes toiling over plots of one acre, or less. The project, therefore, would insist upon the Government identifying and making available land it owns to serious farmers/farm enterprises in economically viable units.

The administration would also have to address with urgency, the problem of farm-sector security. It is estimated that upwards of $5 billion a year, or six per cent of the value of total farm output, is lost to thieves each year. In a sector on tight margins and prone to natural disasters and other uncertainties, such losses can be devastating.

The image of agriculture has to be changed from that of mostly old and semi-literate people to modern enterprises, using suitable and modern technology and welcoming young and sophisticated entrepreneurs and employees. The limited tertiary-level agricultural education available to Jamaican students and the poor-quality technical training offered at the specialised secondary institutions have to be confronted.

The Government also has to remove itself from commercial undertakings in export agriculture, leaving the negotiation of prices and markets to the private sector. Its role must be limited to regulatory oversight, without being overly intrusive.

Very critically, there has to be a rebirth of leadership in agriculture. The old, tired, visionless sector organisations must remake themselves under new, modern leadership, or make way for new, visionary institutions.