RADA St Elizabeth parish agricultural manager responds to Gleaner story

It is out of concern and a sense of fairness and balance that we are compelled to respond to the Gleaner article titled 'St Elizabeth farmers not impressed by minister'.

The article, which was published on Saturday, June 18, speaks to the sentiments of Mrs Eunice Ebanks and her son, who are concerned about their agriculture enterprise, while giving the impression, according to your title, that 'St Elizabeth farmers are not impressed by minister'. It is most unfortunate that your publication chose to use the responses of two farmers from one family to represent the opinions of all St Elizabeth farmers. In addition, as a matter of fairness and balance, it would have been appropriate for the journalist, having determined that there are issues, to get a response from RADA, St Elizabeth, or the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries before concluding on the matter.

As it has turned out, in this story, statements made and opinions given have ranged from misleading to outright inaccuracies.

Farmers registered in St Elizabeth

First, let me state that St Elizabeth has close to 21,000 registered farmers and RADA, St Elizabeth, along with other agencies of the ministry, makes its best effort to service these farmers with 13 extension officers, a ratio of 1,615 farmers to one extension officer, which does not guarantee daily or weekly visits.

In addition, even though the parish office has two marketing officers, this is to assist farmers but not necessarily to guarantee markets for all farmers' produce.

Having said this, RADA St Elizabeth are very familiar with the Ebanks family members in question, and are most surprised about their claims of lack of support from the minister and RADA. The facts are that the Ebanks family is one of our larger farming families in the Pedro Plains extension area and have received a significant amount of support, training and input from RADA and the ministry. In the last year and a half, specific assistance to these farmers has included:

Significant quantities of seeds (24lbs of carrots and five packs of hybrid tomato seeds) and five bags of fertiliser;

During the beet army worm crisis, visits from Boodles Research Station to assist them to address the pest outbreak;

An agronomist assigned to the National Irrigation Commission provided ongoing technical advice on soil deficiency challenges they were experiencing and corrected the situation;

At least fortnightly communication and farm visits from the local RADA extension officer;

One acre of drip-irrigation hose valued at over $100,000 and on-farm technical training from our counterparts at the National Irrigation Commission under a special programme to assist farmers improve efficiency in that area.

According to our technical assessment, these initiatives have benefited the Ebanks in the following ways:

Increased productivity on Mr Ebanks' farm by at least 30 per cent;

Lower cost of production, parti-cularly with regard to labour for harvesting and cleaning scallions;

Improved quality and marketability of produce.

We are amazed that this farm family, having received all these benefits, can claim that they are not receiving any assistance.

Price of scallion

The article also states that a price of $6/lb is being offered to farmers. After verifying with the marketing officer, the average price of scallion on the market is $40/lb. It is true that there are times of excess supply when prices fall, but this is true the world over, influenced by the laws of supply and demand, and the Ebanks should appreciate that RADA or the ministry does not have a perfect solution to this problem. It should also be noted that the majority of scallion that is produced goes into processing of sauces, etc, therefore it is inaccurate for Mrs Ebanks to state that the farmers' markets would have caused a signi-ficant reduction in the demand by vendors for her scallion.

Finally, we know for a fact that the minister and member of parliament visited the Ebanks' farm during the beet army worm outbreak and requested that RADA and the ministry give support to these farmers and was in the Flagaman area up to three weeks ago speaking with farmers.

In conclusion, we at RADA are here to work with all our farmers to help them to produce better and assist in marketing their produce. At times, we work under difficult circumstances but are committed to our mandate. We are appreciative of the support that we get from the media in advancing our mission. We accept constructive criticisms, only asking for balanced reporting. Thank you.