EDITORIAL - Eating local in time of crisis

There have been many 'eat local' campaigns in Jamaica. Mostly, they fizzle - with no change in consumption habits.

We nonetheless support the latest one, launched this week by the Jamaican Government, funded jointly by the European Union and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and backed by the Opposition People's National Party.

Indeed, it was refreshing to observe the affair at Kingston's Coronation Market, where vendors had their finest-quality fruits on display and the shadow agriculture minister, Mr Roger Clarke, joining the great and the good in endorsing the campaign.

"Any initiative which encourages the Jamaican people to support local products has my total and unequivocal support," said Mr Clarke.

This project, for reasons we addressed in these columns a week ago, is timely even if its only success is to draw public attention to the growing dangers of a global food crisis. But as we warned before, awareness alone will not do. Fundamental action has to follow.

Should anyone have missed the developments, a sharp spiral in the price of food in recent months is beginning to resemble the situation of 2007-2008 when millions more of the world's poor became hungry.

Extreme poverty up

Indeed, by the World Bank estimates since the latest round of commodity hikes began towards the end of last year, 44 million people were dragged into extreme poverty. Robert Zoellick projects that, on the current trajectory, there will be over a billion hungry people in the world - 75 million more than at present.

Jamaica is not immune. The number of people living in poverty in Jamaica has risen by nearly 80 per cent over the past four years, a reflection of the country's economic problem. There may now be signs of recovery, but it is not robust. So, joblessness and underemployment will remain high.

At the same time, Jamaica spends around US$900 million a year. With some effort, between one-fifth and a quarter of the imported food could be substituted - a saving of between US$180 million and US$225 million.

Invest in agriculture

The potential of this is not only for the balance of payments, but domestic production and job creation are obvious. And then there is the matter of food security.

But these things just don't happen. They usually require an enabling environment and, in the case of agriculture, political will. It is not easy to talk about substitution with domestic production and environment of poverty if imports, perhaps subsidised, are, for the moment, cheaper.

In that regard, we support Agriculture Minister Chris Tufton's declaration of the administration's promise of the Government's support for those who seriously invest in agriculture "either through policy ... legislation ... accommodation or facilitation".

However, we do not believe that the challenges of food security, and the possibilities it may open for production and job creation, is one that need be tackled by only Jamaica. The regional economic grouping, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has a blueprint for cooperation under an initiative proposed by Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, embracing the region's public and private sectors.

The point is, the Jagdeo initiative assumes working at the domestic and regional levels at the same time. There are compelling reasons to get a move on it.

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