MINISTER of Industry and Tourism Aloun Assamba said last week that the country’s future agricultural development will rely heavily on the cooperation between farmers and players in the tourism industry.

The minister noted that local hotels already purchase more than $2 billion worth of produce from local farmers, but said there was room for improvement in terms of agro-processing and the marketing of locally produced food directly to the tourists.

“We need to deepen and strengthen these links that agriculture has with tourism and industry, so that we can all reap greater benefits,” she added, suggesting that, if the farms become more profitable, rural communities would benefit economically and the the massive drift to urban areas would be slowed.

Assamba was speaking at last Wednesday’s 109th annual general meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

At the same time, the minister said that she was pleased with the initiatives already taken by the JAS and the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) to work closely with each other.

The farming and manufacturing sectors were already contributing approximately 22 per cent to Jamaica’s gross domestic product and this could be increased, tremendously, “if we can create synergies between farming, manufacturing and tourism that add value to our primary products for both the local and overseas markets”, she said.

Assamba also encouraged horticulturalists to open up their farms to visitors, as the ministry was pursuing efforts to diversify the tourism product, especially in terms of developing community-based attractions, such as garden and plantation tours, petting farms and gardens.

She told the famers that agencies under her ministry, including the Jamaica Tourist Board, the Tourism Product Development Company and the Jamaica Business Development Centre, were available to advise them on these developments.

Meanwhile, the minister of state in the Ministry of Agriculture, Errol Ennis, told the farmers to stop grandstanding and give voice to the JAS as their representative organisation and not allow critics to say that they have no voice.

JAS president Senator Norman Grant updated the meeting on the various developments within the society which have taken place since he was elected president last July. These include the promotion of amendments to the Agricultural Produce Act to introduce new measures to counter preadial larceny; the obtaining of six Massey 290 tractors through the Development Bank of Jamaica for its tillage programme; the farmers’ training programme launched in November; lease agreements for JAS properties expected to bring in millions in revenue; and the creation of a legal council to provide advice on commercial contracts, conveyance, real estate, preparation and drafting of legal documents and administration of estates.

Grant also said that he expected increased overseas participation in the annual Denbigh agricultural show this year.

Three new directors – Glen Cruickshank, William Morgan and Pat Rose – were elected to the JAS board, despite objections by one member, Webster McPherson, that he should have been included in the balloting.

The delegates also passed a resolution calling on the government to ensure that the amendments to the Agricultural Produce Act be passed expeditiously by Parliament for swift implemenation of the the anti-praedial larceny provisions.

Also attending the meeting was Jamaica Labour Party senator, Anthony Johnson.