THE NATION'S manufacturers, and indeed its farmers too, had better heed the advice of Prime Minister Patterson at the Denbigh Agri-Industrial Show on Monday, and ensure that they produce "goods of quality at the right price", and so obviate the need to import goods of inferior quality.
He acknowledged that the Government has a responsibility to provide the right motivation for farmers by way of incentives, training and access to loans, and supported the observation of Erskine Griffiths, Minister of Agriculture for Barbados, that a new approach was imperative for the survival of agriculture in the region, especially against the impending removal of some preferential trading agreements.
The advice of the two politicians is timely in light of the advancement of World Trade Organization talks on the weekend with agreements that will lead to more open markets for agriculture, goods and services.
According to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, after lengthy and extended sessions in Geneva, the WTO talks ended "with a crucial step for global trade" in the form of agreements that will provide greater structure and direction to the on-going talks."
A highlight of the agreement reached by the 147-member WTO is a pledge to abolish all forms of agricultural subsidies by a date yet to be negotiated. This had been a long-standing sticking point in global trade talks, as farmers of the developing world have complained that the competitiveness of their produce is impaired in the global marketplace by subsidies offered to farmers of the developed world by their governments. Another breakthrough highlighted by Zoellick are provisions to reform customs procedures as goods move across the international borders in order to reduce customs costs and streamline the process.
This is good for the world trade talks which had been dangerously fragile since they broke down at a September 2003 round of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico.
It spells even better news for farmers, manufacturers and service providers of the United States and other developed countries which had been clamouring for these concessions for decades.
Mr. Patterson spelt out the implications of the new agreements for developing countries and the Caribbean region, in particular, when he told farmers at Denbigh, "We can no longer rely on preferential trade agreements, nor can agriculture be sustained by subsistence farming".
The advice from both Mr. Patterson and Mr. Griffiths are wake-up calls to Jamaican and regional farmers, manufacturers, service providers, labour unions, and governments, that with these crucial changes in global trading, it cannot be business as usual on the farms and in the factories of the developing countries.
So instead of demonstrations and protests in front of embassies, local manufacturing, farming and labour representatives should be huddling on best practices and how the labour force can be made more competitive in this new dispensation where market access is critical.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
