By Balford Henry, News Editor 
Jamaica Labour Party leader Edward Seaga addresses The Gleaner Editors' Forum at the newspaper's North Street offices yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
- Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
OPPOSITION LEADER Edward Seaga yesterday raised hopes for a revival of the sugar industry as well as the development of organic foods, but offered little hope for the banana industry.
Speaking to editors, senior reporters and columnists at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum yesterday, Mr. Seaga pointed out that small farmers were in a serious situation.
"Every single crop in Jamaica is in trouble, every one. There is none that you can say is not in trouble and this is the first time we've ever encountered anything like that," Mr. Seaga said.
"We are now facing the demise of the banana export trade. Next year you probably may not have any banana exports at all," he added.
He said that the only banana estate which could compete with the rest of the world, St. Mary Banana Estate, was not enough.
He warned that there would be a surplus of bananas on the local market next year because a lot of the farmers would be forced to seek a living there. "And there is going to be chaos," Mr. Seaga warned.
The issue was now what to do with the banana lands, he said.
Mr. Seaga said that although his 1980s Agro 21 concept had been belittled, it had a number of positives, including fresh water fish cultivation, which has risen from 200,000 pounds to more than four million pounds, as well as investments in papayas, mangoes and the Victoria Banana Estate in Clarendon.
He said that the next step would have to be to look at organically-grown vegetables. He noted the experiment with hydroponic plant cultivation in Manchester, which uses liquid solutions to increase yields by as many as 40 times. He said that there were regional and domestic markets for these crops.
Turning to sugar, Mr. Seaga said: "Up to recently, everybody who spoke about sugar spoke about the collapse of the sugar industry. When I spoke with the private sector people who are most advanced in sugar, the Wray and Nephew Group, they on their own went to Australia, which is one of the main producers and most efficient producers, and saw technology at work there for irrigating the field," he explained.
Mr. Seaga said that he had visited the New Yarmouth sugar factory and seen the technology in operation and was convinced of its importance in the redevelopment of the industry. This technology, centre pivot irrigation, has been drafted into the JLP's manifesto plans and is expected to form the basis of a revival of the sugar industry.
He said that he was satisfied that the technology was capable of producing increase in yields of up to 50 per cent.
"Sugar to my mind is saved," Mr. Seaga said. "We are going to produce 300,000 tonnes of sugar in this country. We are now producing under 200,000 tonnes, but sugar is going to be a thriving industry."
He said that the construction of a sugar refinery was a must: "It is a must and it is coming and when it comes now I've the feasibility on my desk."
He said that agriculture needed as much reform as education, as it meant much more than simply providing a living for farmers and benefiting the economy.
"We will not be able to tackle poverty until we tackle rural poverty and to tackle rural poverty we must have an agricultural economy that provides opportunity and good results for the small farmers," he said.
