Caribbean farmers, who have been co-operating on exploiting the benefits to be offered by the proposed Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), will not be deterred by the postponement of the formal signing of the agreement, says Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president, Senator Norman Grant.

“We’re still pushing ahead as partners, collaborating to maximise the benefits that the CSME will offer,” Grant said in a statement Monday, following the announcement of the postponement of the formal signing which had been scheduled for Saturday in Guyana.

“We will not be able to take advantage of the provisions of the agreement because of the delay, but we will continue pressing ahead in our efforts to co-operate because we believe that it will offer tremendous benefits to the region,” he added.

Minister of information Senator Burchell Whiteman told Monday’s post-Cabinet press briefing that the formal signing of the CSME agreement had been postponed to later this year, due to the problems created by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s ruling on Jamaica’s bid to enter the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Senator Grant returned from a trip to Barbados recently where he addressed the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) on the need for collaboration between regional farmers’ groups. The agricultural societies of the three countries, which have already pledged to sign the CSME agreement – Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago – have agreed to co-operate under the umbrella of the Caribbean Farmers and Agricultural Non-Government Network (CaFANN).

According to Grant, it is through this body that the voice of primary producers in the region will be heard. He said that CaFANN has already started discussions with the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), as well as the Caricom Secretariat on membership in the Alliance of Agriculture Ministers.

“The farmers have a limited voice in high-level policy-making forums such as Caricom, and we have experienced limited success in influencing policy issues affecting farmers, as well as the wider agricultural sector, and this is why CaFANN is relevant and timely,” Grant said.

“I am one of the voices crying in the wilderness for governments of the region to give more support for the agricultural sector,” Grant said. “Over the last 50 years, a lot of lip service has been given to the sector. The time has come for us to launch a new drive for the wholistic development of agriculture in the region.”

He said that the JAS has been mandated by the Ministry of Agriculture to serve local farmers through its central marketing company, JASCEL, which will provide a market mechanism to promote structured agri-business for the farmers.

He said that the company recently bought 16,000 pounds of tomato from local farmers for the market, contributing to the stabilisation of the price.