Tufton - File

The Jamaican farmer is ill- prepared to compete and find new markets because Govern-ment has been ad hoc in its approach towards boosting agricultural productivity and competitiveness.

So said Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Senator and caretaker for South West St. Elizabeth Dr. Chris Tufton in a release issued to The Gleaner on the weekend.

The agricultural sector engages 20 per cent of the Jamaican workforce but contributes six per cent of GDP, clearly indicating low levels of productivity, he said.

Dr. Tufton made those comments as he addressed a recent JLP divisional conference for the Hamsted division in Central St. Mary.

The senator said the 18-year tenure of the PNP government has left the farmer to "fend for themselves" while locking them into international arrangements through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that will see international competition forcing them to barely survive from subsistence activity. This is tantamount to pushing agriculture and the Jamaican farmer in the dark ages, as the rules are changing but their capacity to adjust and compete is not advancing.

Slow off the mark

While accepting that the Government cannot fundamentally change the new developments in international trade which is allowing increasing liberalisation and associa-ted competition, Dr. Tufton argued that the Government has been slow off the mark to proving guidance and leadership to the farming community on ways to improve productivity and secure markets. "This administration has been engaged in an 18-year experiment but little to show from the farmer's perspective," he said.

Citing the linkage between agriculture and tourism as an example, the JLP caretaker says too much is left up to chance and luck for farmers to secure a relationship between the hotels and themselves. While we cannot force any investor to do anything, we must be more proactive in establishing appropriate relationships between the farmer and hotelier. These relationships must be based on mutual respect where farmers are paid on time and in exchange provide quality products and timely deliveries. An effective supplier development programme, which should include the farmer, hotelier and Government, is critical to this end.

He said the solution to improving the competitiveness of the Jamaican farmers must be linked to adding greater value to our agricultural output. We have to do more from primary to value added stages of the production process and agricultural marketing is fundamental to this process. The Government must use institutions like the University of the West Indies and external experts, if necessary, to boost the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture to modernise the sector.