John Myers Jr., Coordinator
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant, is proposing that the Government impose the maximum duty on imported beef and remove the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on agricultural equipment, to assist with reviving the ailing cattle sector.
According to Mr. Grant, the country must realise that the cattle sector and the agricultural industry on a whole are important to the economy and everything must be done to prevent its decline. The cattle sector is estimated to worth $9.8 billion and contributed about $5.3 billion to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2003.
"I think that Government should move to impose the maximum duties on imports as allowed by the trade agreements ... ," Senator Grant said in an interview. "I think that based on what is happening ... we need to go back to the negotiating table (with) the WTO or FTAA and put on the table recommendations for some breather because a number of things have changed since these agreements were signed," he added.
OTHER PROPOSAL
The JAS president also proposed that the Government lobbies for "an addendum to these agreements and let us see if we can get some time for re-adjustment of our economy".
At the moment, there is a 85 per cent duty on beef coming into the island.
A study of the island's cattle sector released by the Jamaica Livestock Association (JLA) two weeks ago showed that the beef industry had declined by 50 per cent and the dairy sector by 66 per cent since 1990. This has resulted in a serious shortage in local beef and milk to supply the local market.
The study cited competition from cheap imports, outbreak of 'Mad Cow' disease overseas, the under utilisation of new technologies and the age of current farmers as the main reasons for the decline.
In a bid to revive the sectors, stakeholders held a three-day conference at the Breezes Runaway Bay hotel in St. Ann two weeks ago to decide on the way forward.
