Gov’t to provide farmers with tillage service
THE Government is to launch a pooled tractor tillage service to help small farmers improve efficiency, Prime Minister P J Patterson announced yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Agriculture Society (JAS) plans to unveil a “buy local” campaign next month to provide a cushion against the heavy thumping Jamaican farmers have absorbed in recent years from cheap exports because of a liberalised import regime.
Norman Grant, the JAS’ new president, spoke of the “buy local” promotion on Friday’s opening day of the Denbigh Agricultural Show in Clarendon, while Patterson told of the tillage service when he addressed exhibitors yesterday. The show ends today.
“In the month of September, we will unveil an intense 12-month campaign to lobby and advocate that all Jamaicans buy local produce and invest in the development of Jamaica,” Grant said.
The farmers group also hoped to create a “tight alliance” with the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association and the Jamaica Exporters’ Association to promote its agenda and was already in discussion with these groups, Grant said.
But Patterson in his speech yesterday warned farmers that they could not expect to compete with foreign producers if they continued with out-dated production methods.
“The day of the hoe and fork is over as they cannot compete with the speed and efficiency of tillage machinery used by our competitors around the world,” the prime minister said.
“The way in which we do business, especially in the agricultural sector, must change,” he added. “We must integrate new farming ideas and transform our agricultural methods and structures.”
It was in that context that Patterson disclosed that the administration had earmarked $20 million for the establishment of the pooled tractor service, which is to be facilitated by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ). It will move from parish to parish, providing services to farmers.
He disclosed that the long-awaited Praedial Larceny Bill was tabled in Parliament last Wednesday. The Act will make it compulsory for farmers and persons trading in produce to have a produce receipt and the receipt book system will be run by the JAS through a Praedial Larceny Control Secretariat.
Patterson said that the Act would include fish and livestock. “People are stealing fish at night from people’s farms,” the prime minister said. Previously praedial larceny only applied to produce stolen from trees.
Other Ministry of Agriculture programmes which the prime minister said would be coming on stream include:
* revitalisation of over 2,300 acres of cocoa under the Farm Rehabilitation Programme; and
* The setting up of an estimated 5,000 acres of a variety of marketable crops under the Alliance with Farmers Programme being spearheaded by the private sector.
Grant had told exhibitors that the JAS planned to extend the Denbigh Show to become a regional event in an effort to open markets to Jamaican farmers. This year, the JAS invited delegations from Grand Cayman, Guyana, St Lucia and Trinidad, including Guyana’s agriculture minister, Satyadeon Sawh, and his Cayman Islands counterpart, Gilbert McLean.