In a speech at the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show, Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke announced that during the first quarter of the year the agricultural sector grew by 30 per cent and is making a significant contribution to the overall economy.
This rosy picture must be evaluated against the low base on which the increase is calculated, taking into account the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Bananas, in particular, have rebounded from the devastation caused by the hurricane, and this also applies to sugar, although sugar production is not yet up to pre-Ivan levels.
What is heartening is the dramatic real growth reported for sweet potatoes, peppers and condiments. Even coffee is expected to do well this year and Government has advanced $60 million to coffee farmers whose crops were affected by Hurricane Ivan but who have not been able to recover any insurance money for the damage. This issue is before the courts.
The price being paid to cocoa farmers is to go up from $500 to $1,000 per box which will be an incentive for greater production.
Minister Clarke also reported an 'astronomical' growth in goat and pig production and a doubling of the honey industry, due to the introduction of new technology.
The Denbigh show is traditionally a time for agricultural celebration, so there may be a degree of hyperbole in the figures announced by Minister Clarke.
Indeed, there are those who remain sceptical of how production of domestic agriculture is measured. One method is for extension officers to visit farms and by talking to farmers get a general 'feel' for what is happening.
These reports are then collated and an overall assessment arrived at. To a large extent the final conclusions are subjective but if even half of the minister's optimism is justified, agriculture will have made a significant recovery. This is good news for the Jamaican economy which continues to be heavily reliant on agriculture. Last year the sector accounted for 5.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), half a percentage point down from the previous year and against the 6.3 per cent of 2003.
But even as we welcome the news brought by Mr. Clarke, we have to bear in mind that the immediate prospects for the sector, especially traditional exports, are not particularly rosy.
Over the next several years, the Europeans will slash, by more than a third, the price they pay for sugar imported from Jamaica and other ACP countries, eroding our preferential market for the commodity. Our preference treatment in bananas is also under attack.
It is urgent, therefore, that Jamaica accelerates the modernisation of its farming sector, including identifying, producing, and marketing those products in which we can be competitive. There is also a decision to be made on the divestment of the government's sugar company and the reconfiguring of the sector.
We do not, however, sense among the authorities the urgency which we believe is necessary. Nor do we sense that there is a big vision, one that can be transmitted to a new breed of farmers who are beyond mere cutlass and hoe.
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