KINGSTON, Jamaica— President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant, and the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, have called on Jamaicans to recognise the contribution of the country’s farmers to the economy.

“This has been achieved through the expansion of the sector to the extent that the country has benefited from passing nine consecutive IMF tests,’ Grant, a government member of the Senate, told the launch of the 2015 campaign at the JAS head office Church Street, downtown Kingston, yesterday (Wednesday).

“What that means is that the farmers, with the support of the JAS and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, have pioneered a path that Jamaica will celebrate in the not too distant future (in terms of) economic independence through transformation of the agricultural sector,” he stated.

Stanberry said that the only time that agriculture has dipped in production, over the past decade, has been when there has been serious hurricanes and droughts.

”It is not an easy feat, because it has been achieved within the context of 230,000 small farmers working in conditions that are not ideal,” Stanberry pointed out.

However, he said that the resilience of the farmers have allowed them to weather the storm.

“So when we go to the markets and find food, it is not something to be taken for granted,” he noted.

The JAS, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, will be celebrating the 12th anniversary of the ‘Eat Jamaican’ campaign under the theme: “Grow What We Eat, Eat What We Grow” in November.

Other significant dates on the programme are: Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 15, at the Buff Bay Independent Baptist Church at 10 am; the ‘Eat Jamaican’ Day Exposition on Wednesday, November 25, at the Jamaica 4-H Clubs headquarters at 8:00 am; and the Authentic Jamaican Cuisine Evening on Wednesday, November 25, at Jamaica 4-H Clubs headquarters between 4 pm and 9:00 pm.

Balford Henry