JAMAICA Agricultural Society (JAS) president, Senator Norman Grant says he is disappointed with Tuesday’s decision to suspend debate on measures to deal with praedial larceny in the House of Representatives.

Grant insisted that all the questions that were raised in the House were already addressed at the level of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament, which studied the bill.

The debate was suspended after Opposition spokesmen J C Hutchinson and Pearnel Charles raised concerns about a number of provisions in the Bill. Hutchinson said that the system of registering farmers to use JAS stamped receipt books would seriously affect the farming community.

But Grant said Wednesday that he was surprised that the concerns had resurfaced after close to 10 meetings over the past nine months, including five JSC meetings, which involved a number of stakeholders.

“I would like to express my total disappointment at the recent developments, as it relates to the debating and passing of the Bill that is so important to the farmers of Jamaica,” he said.

“There were major amendments at the Joint Select Committee, no member of that committee dissented on any of the issues, so what are we seeing here?” the JAS president asked.

He was addressing a function to launch Denbigh 2004 at the Jamaica Broilers’ group offices, McCook’s Pen, St Catherine.

“I see this as straight hostility against the farmers of Jamaica and a clear lack of appreciation or knowledge of the problems faced by the farmers,” he said, adding urging Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke to resume the debate.

“Let us vote on the matter and let’s dispose of it and get on with the work of the farmers. Enough is enough,” he said.

It was announced at the function that the annual Denbigh Agricultural Show will be staged July 31 to August 2 with the theme, “We are what we eat, so let’s eat Jamaican.”