By K.C. Soares, ContributorONE THE critical needs to be addressed if the agriculture sector is to move forward is the matter of crop selection.
I have already commented on two aspects a restructuring of the different boards governing the different crops, and the matter of credit to the sector.
Recently in the news, there has been some talk on the reviving of the cocoa industry and at the same time plans are being made to inject substantial amounts of money into the banana and sugar industries. Why are we wasting money on these crops? Shouldn't we be concentrating on crops that we can grow profitably and those that can effectively compete on the global market?
Regular readers of this column will recall that I have been recommending that we put emphasis on the production of crops that produce essential oils to earn much needed foreign exchange other than on uneconomic crops such as sugar cane, bananas and cocoa. With respect to sugarcane and bananas, production should be geared towards satisfying domestic consumption only.
FORGET EXPORTS
Forget exports, as we cannot compete globally with these crops. In the case of sugarcane, it is my opinion that only two factories should remain open. These are Worthy Park, for the production of sugar to be consumed locally, and Appleton Estates, for the production of rum and molasses.
Bananas should be grown to satisfy the local demand for fresh fruit and to satisfy the requirements of the banana chip industry. Cocoa should be allowed to continue on its way out. An average cocoa farm should be producing about 50 boxes of cocoa per acre. Yet we are producing only three boxes per acre. How can this be profitable? It was recently announced that $26 million will be put into the cocoa industry. This, in my opinion, is a total waste of funds.
How much of this $26 million will actually reach the farmers where it is required to increase production? If any should, my guess is that it will be non-productive as such amounts will be used to clear indebtedness incurred over the years and not much put into the actual cultivation of the crop. My experience tells me that most of the money allocated will be suspended in the administration of the Cocoa Board. The end result is that we will still be producing three boxes per acre, or maybe even less, and the injection of the $26 million into the industry will not achieve anything positive.
One may ask, if we phase out cocoa and downgrade production levels of bananas and sugarcane, what crops should be the replacements? In response, I will suggest a few crops that we can successfully produce to compete in global markets.
Heading my recommendation list are those crops that produce essential oils. There is a wide variety of these crops with the main ones being pimento, ginger, lemon grass, rosemary, wild ginger (turmeric), cloves, geraniums, camphor, cinnamon, pepper and vanilla. There is a great demand worldwide for the oils produced by these crops as they relate to healthy living.
Another crop that we should be growing for export is the passion fruit. This fruit is used extensively in the beverage industry worldwide. The United States of America, for instance, imports large quantities of passion fruit from as far away as New Zealand. We are much nearer to the USA than is New Zealand and therefore we should be able to export this fruit to the USA much cheaper than New Zealand. Why can't we tap into this market? There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be exporting passion fruit to the USA. People worldwide are becoming more and more health conscious and are moving away from artificial flavouring. Like essential oils, passion fruit provides a natural flavour.
CAUGHT NAPPING
Although we may have missed the boat with respect to ackee, this crop still has great potential. After lobbying for the removal of the ban on ackees to the USA we have been caught napping as other countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize are well prepared to supply the lucrative market of that country.
Essential oils, passion fruit and ackee are three crops that are highly recommended. The lands made available through the reduction in the production of sugarcane and bananas should be used, in part, to increase and or establish acreages of the crops mentioned above.
K. C. Soares is a former banker and is now a business consultant with Soledad Financial Services Limited. E-mail: soledad@netcomm-jm.com.
