Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The Rev. W. George Lewis, officiating clergy at the Church of God in Jamaica, yesterday urged the Government to allocate 20 per cent of the budget to agriculture, saying that an administration that pays scant regard to this sector is incompetent and inept.

Addressing his congregation at a service to commemorate World Food Day, Rev. Lewis said a nation that develops its capacity to feed itself is strong, and can avoid domination and exploitation of superpowers that dump low quality goods on poor countries.

The Government currently allocates $4 billion to the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. This represents approximately 1 per cent of the budget.

World Food Day was commemorated under the theme, 'Agricul-ture for Food Security'.

Food security

The cleric said: "It cannot be business as usual, we can't all invest in the paper, we must invest in the soil because that is how we are going to have food security."

"We must take pride in agriculture, we cannot leave it to spin doctors," he told the congregation at the Constant Spring Church of God, in St. Andrew.

"Sustainable agriculture," he continued, "is the way forward. We need more than subsistence farming. We need to plant more so we can have enough,".

"If we are going to achieve sustainable development, we need discerning men, it cannot be somebody we favour. It has to be the right man for the job. No patronage," he said.

He noted that the market is flooded with foreign carrots and potatoes, noting that Jamaica can do better in planting its own.

In his remarks, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke said the Government's aim is to address the problem of hunger and poverty.

"But it has continued to elude us because there are many who go to bed hungry many nights,".

Dr. Dunstan Campbell, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Representative in Jamaica, Bahamas and Belize said despite the progress achieved in agriculture and rural development, more than 850 million people still remain hungry and poor.

According to Dr. Campbell, 70 per cent of the world's hungry live in rural areas. "That is where it is most critical to provide food and employment. The seed planted by a farmer leads to a flourishing agribusiness that pay taxes and help build rural schools and roads," he said.