RADA parish manager for Manchester, George Morgan, at his desk in his Mandeville office.
-Contributed photo
George Henry, Gleaner Writer
SPALDINGS, Clarendon:
JAMAICA'S AGRICULTURE has been blessed over the years with wonderful administrators. One such administrator is the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) parish manager for Manchester, George Henry Morgan.
Mr. Morgan, who has been the parish manager for Manchester since 1994, also served at the RADA office in May Pen, Clarendon, when RADA was formed in 1990.
He is a graduate of the Jamaica School of Agriculture (JSA), having studied at that institution in the late 1960s when it was located at Twickenham Park, St. Catherine.
Prior to his training years at the JSA, Mr. Morgan was engaged in teaching at two primary schools for a year in Clarendon. They are at Richmond Park and Pleasant Valley. However, he did not like his job as a teacher and so he opted to acquire his professional training in agriculture.
TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN
Recalling how agriculture was done in yesteryears in comparison to what now takes place, Mr. Morgan said agriculture today is more technology-driven. He emphasised that how farmers used to carry out their farming in the olden days no longer holds, as persons were now being educated on the new trends in the sector.
"How people used to do things in agriculture, they just cannot do that any more. For the same bit of land you now have to ensure that you get more from it and with less input. The technology in agriculture now allows farmers to improve what they produce, significantly," he said.
Mr. Morgan, who has, as part of his responsibility as the parish manager for RADA, to not only ensure that farmers seek to produce crops in good quantity and variety in Manchester, but also to assists farmers in the marketing of some crops.
The RADA parish manager sees his job as being difficult at times, especially when farmers are faced with the problem of not being able to find a market for what they produce.
GOOD BUSINESS
He said that farmers in south Manchester who cultivate pepper mint were doing good business up to a few months ago, but of late they have been experiencing difficulty marketing the product. This has left Mr. Morgan, who is willing to assist the farmers in sourcing a market, frustrated, but, according to him, he would not give up. "Farmers keep coming to me for assistance in marketing some crops but sometimes there is very little you can do to help them," he said.
Mr. Morgan, who believes that the policies regarding agriculture in Jamaica were being pursued in the right way, also believes that the competition by foreign imports is making things a bit difficult for local farmers. Due to globalisation, he thinks not much can be done to stop the imports.
He also thinks that something will have to be done about the high rate of interest being charged for the acquisition of loans to the island's farmers.
Mr. Morgan could retire from his position at RADA within the next three years, he is now 57 years old.
George Morgan is married to Icylin, and the union has produced two children, Dacia and Alwyn.
