Hugh Martin FOR CENTURIES, Jamaica's export agriculture flourished. Sugar was king, banana was 'green gold' and coffee, cocoa and pimento had no equal. The market was guaranteed and the price was good. And even when products of competitive price and quality appeared we got protection in quotas and preferential pricing arrangements. There was even a term for the sugar arrangements under the LOME Convention: 'In perpetuity'.
Do you know that we actually believed that they would last forever? So we went along our merry way doing things as we've always done them and even, since we had it down pat, with a little less attention to detail. But then along came the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the doctrine of free trade. Persuaded (or coerced) into conversion in order to obtain the structural adjustment loans, many developing countries like Jamaica soon found that in this new religion protection is incompatible with competition. In this global marketplace the only advantage is a better and a cheaper product and that there is no fairy godmother.
The first to go of course was the local banana industry, with the challenge to the European Union's (EU) banana regime by the United States and four Latin American banana producers. Within a couple of years our exports fell from 86,000 tonnes to less than 40,000 tonnes and only the large estates have remained as the less efficient small growers dropped out. Credit must be given, however, to the EU for providing funds to the industry to help the farmers improve their efficiency or to find alternative occupations. This has helped in developing a local value-added industry in terms of ripening facilities and chips manufacturing as well as increased efficiency in the remaining export producers.
But it didn't stop with the export crops. Our dairy producers first felt the effect of free trade on the local market as cheap imported dairy products began to flood the market at prices well below what they could deliver. In spite of Government's intervention to the extent of the allowable safeguard measures the industry is now just limping along. It was the same for the beef industry which is only now showing signs of a slow recovery.
FLOODED
The real panic came, however, when the supermarkets and green groceries became flooded with imported fruits and vegetables from the United States at prices well below the local offerings. As if to add insult to injury these imported items were not only cheaper they were cosmetically superior in appearance and certainly more attractively packaged and labelled. Never mind that the taste was inferior; a lot of persons buy what looks good, especially if it is reasonably priced. So for a while there, it looked like the end of the agricultural sector. And the manufacturing sector wasn't any better.
The good news is, however, that the Jamaican farmer and manufacturer have got the message; improve your efficiency or perish. The recent 'Eat Jamaican' and 'Buy Jamaican' campaign put on by the Jamaica Agricultural Society and the Jamaica Manufacturing Association respectively are not just slogans but assurances to consumers that these products are of the highest standards and quality and are worthy of their support. The Ministry of Agriculture, perhaps recognising early enough that safeguard measures such as high import duties provide only temporary relief, has embarked on a programme designed to enhance the competitiveness of the sector in the domestic and global markets. This is the Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP) which commenced in 2001 with funding to the tune of US$31.5 million. Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke, spoke highly of it when he made his presentation in the Sectoral Debate recently. According to him the results are already outstanding with some 19 projects being implemented. One of these is a fodder production project by the Rhymesfield Dairy Co-operative in Clarendon. Some 25 farmers are engaged in this endeavour to manufacture a total mixed ration which will replace imported concentrate feed. This will help to lower milk production costs considerably and so result in the price of milk being more competitive.
EFFICIENCY
The free trade system has been described as the latest tool of the developed countries to re-colonise the developing countries. Perhaps. It cannot be denied, however, that it has brought forcibly to the realisation of our producers that no longer can they rely simply on price increases to provide them their profits but that it is the efficiency of their operations that will make their products cheaper, better and therefore more competitive. Free trade has given the consumer many more choices and she is not afraid to use them. The opportunity is also there for the local producer to exploit the wider global market.
Hugh Martin is a communication specialist and farm broadcaster who may be reached at humar@cwjamaica.com
