MINISTER OF Industry and Tourism, Aloun Assamba, has pledged the support of her ministry in ensuring that the agricultural sector garners greater benefits from the growth of the tourism industry.Mrs. Assamba, who was speaking recently at the annual general meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, said the local productive sector, such as agriculture, must benefit more from the rapid expansion now taking place in the tourism sector.
"If the ordinary Jamaican people do not benefit from the growth in tourism, then we are not doing the right things ... The rapid tourism expansion must be matched by a greater spread of the benefits from tourism," Mrs. Assamba told the large group of farmers who attended the meeting.
MASTER PLAN
In recognising this, the Industry and Tourism Minister noted that provisions have been included in the recently formulated Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development, to ensure that there are greater linkages between agriculture and tourism. She said with this collaboration, the tourism sector is expected to spend more than 80 per cent of the approximately $2.3 billion it allocates to food annually.
Mrs. Assamba, however, noted that while the relationship between the two sectors would provide a larger market for local farmers to sell their produce, she said, "Tourism cannot solve the problems of agriculture."
She stressed that farmers must become business-oriented and strive to improve the quality
of their produce and their
marketing methods.
"Critical to moving agriculture to new heights of achievements will be the issue of productivity within the sector," said Mrs. Assamba. "It is simply not enough to simply produce more ... but producing it at a high quality. Farmers must become active marketers."
Mrs. Assamba at the same time supported recent calls for bank interest rates to be lowered in order to promote greater levels of productivity and efficiency. According to the minister, the high interest rates, coupled with the present challenges faced by the farmers, were deterrents to the process.
Senator Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, also used the opportunity to reiterate his appeal for commercial banks to lower interest rates on loans.
