Hugh Martin
APRIL IS Farmers' Month and for the entire 30 days, all farmers in Jamaica should feel special. That was the intention of the leadership of the Jamaica Agricultural Society when they instituted it some two decades ago. The question is, though, do farmers feel special? Are they truly being honoured in their calling or are they looked upon with pity for the plight in which they find themselves? Do they want their children to follow in their footsteps? Do their children want to?
Over in Portland at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), some 60 companies will be attending a Career Fair today to woo graduates of that institution into their employ. The Faculty of Agriculture turns out close to a hundred graduates each year, bright young men and women trained in various areas of agriculture and equipped to work as farm managers, extension agents, laboratory technicians, teachers and farmers. Many of them will find employment in other agriculture-related fields and many in fields far removed from agriculture. One thing for sure is that not one will be going back to the farm to be a farmer. It happens sometimes but so rarely that I feel sure that I will not be getting a lot of letters of contradiction.
CHANGING THE PERCEPTION OF FARMERS
The farmer will receive the respect he deserves when he succeeds in replacing that image of a bedraggled half-wit walking behind a jackass and carrying a bunch of bananas on his head and a machete in his hand. This can happen when those trained graduates of CASE return to the farm and begin to lift farm production to levels that will bring wealth and prosperity. That, according to its mission statement, is its purpose. After 22 years of existence, the CASE has come of age, although in its present form it is just eight years old. Its development has been a case of constant struggle since its controversial beginnings in 1981 when, as the College of Agriculture, it replaced the Jamaica School of Agriculture which had, from 1910, been the principal supplier of trained agriculturists, farmers, re-searchers and technocrats to the agricultural sector.
UNPOPULAR DECISION
The closure of JSA in 1981 was the first major unpopular decision by the new Seaga-led government and was opposed by even one of his Ministers of State, Brasco Lee, himself a former graduate of the school. The unceremonious removal of the school and students from Twickenham Park to accommodation in Passley Gardens, Portland, intended for a secondary school so angered the past students that numerous protest demonstrations were mounted. When the old students association began legal proceedings to contest the closure the Government finessed the move by repealing the JSA act. That action frustrated the efforts of "Old Farmers" and left a bitterness in most that has remained in many hearts to this day. The students, graduates and present faculty of CASE on the other hand see an unbroken link with JSA and traces its history back to 1910. On its website (www.case.edu.jm) it claims:
"The college has its roots in the Government Farm School in Kingston, which started in 1910 at Hope on the site which currently houses the University of Technology. In 1942, the Farm School was renamed Jamaica School of Agriculture and in 1957 relocated to Twickenham Park (present home of the Police Academy). In 1968, the first batch of female students was admitted. Today, more than half the student population of CASE is female."
The College of Agriculture Scheme Order of 1981 gave birth to that institution and in 1995, it was merged with the Passley Gardens Teachers' College, which itself was established on adjoining premises also in 1981. The resulting institution, CASE, occupies 254 hectares of land and has recently acquired the 100-acre Spring Garden Farm which it is developing as a commercial enterprise producing plantains, bananas, vegetables and small livestock. Its tutorial farm already produces those crops and last year earned some seven million dollars to supplement its meagre resources.
Speaking with President Hopeton Fraser, Vice-President Dr. Paul Riley and Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Jonathan Lamey, one gets the impression that a great deal of work is being done by the college to develop young minds from all across Jamaica and the wider Caribbean in a variety of disciplines in spite of the limited allocation it receives from Government. Some of the programmes offered include Bachelor of Technology in Agri-Production and Food Systems Management, Environmental Science, Environmental Management and in Eco-Tourism and Associate of Science Degree in General Agriculture, Agricultural Education, Natural Science, Business Studies, and Hospitality and Entertainment Management.
CASE is carving out a name for itself and doing a considerable amount of research in collaboration with other farm-based organisations. It is a worthy successor to the Jamaica School of Agriculture and I would implore those Old Farmers who still carry that bitterness in their heart to put a closure on it and welcome the Case fraternity into the brotherhood of Carlos.
Hugh Martin is a communication specialist and farm broadcaster. E-mail: humar@cwjamaica.com