THE Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), which earlier this month stepped in to help tomato farmers get a better price for their produce, is now expanding the programme to cover growers of other food crops.

From its branches in St Elizabeth and Manchester, the JAS will buy farmers’ cabbage, escallion, thyme sweet peppers and watermelon through the organisation’s Central Marketing System.

JAS branches will now purchase the crops from farmers and re-sell them. JAS agents will get a commission on the sales, a step which is in keeping with the society’s effort to get back into the commercial side of farming while helping farmers.

JAS president Senator Norman Grant broke the news Saturday during a whirlwind tour of areas ravaged by a bush fire that destroyed more than 56 hectares of crop.

The losses have been estimated at $15 million to $20 million in Southern sections of St Elizabeth.

The JAS decision to buy the additional produce follows its initial move to buy 20,000 pounds of tomatoes from St Elizabeth and Manchester farmers at a guaranteed price of $10 per pound. A glut on the market had pushed the prices to as low as $3 per pound before the JAS stepped in.

“We want to establish better price stability so we will be offering a guaranteed market to the farmer, so as to change from a situation where you produce to sell if you can, to one where you produce for a market,” said Grant.

In addition to helping farmers secure a market and get better prices for their produce, the JAS is also helping them with the inputs of production.

In consultation with the farmers, Grant also identified a need for Guinea Grass – used as mulch in dry farming which is widely practicsd in St Elizabeth – seeds and planting materials, as well as an increase in the water supply available, and he gave a commitment to provide emergency supplies of those items. He also promised to work with Food for the Poor to supply food supplies for the affected communities.

Grant said there were existing stockpiles available to help in the current crisis even though this latest round of assistance follows the $40 million in cash and kind that the JAS provided, in collaboration with the CVSS/United Way, to help farmers recover from Hurricane Ivan. The Ministry of Land and the Environment has also allocated $1 million, through the Rural Agricultural Development Agency, to help the St Elizabeth farmers recover from the fire.

During Saturday’s tour, Grant also announced that a $5-million tender for some 100,000 receipt books would be issued in about two weeks. The much-anticipated receipt books are being introduced to fight the scourge of praedial larceny which is estimated to cost the farming sector about $4 billion in annual losses.

“Every legitimate trader that comes and buys from you will have to produce a receipt when selling the produce,” Grant noted.

The move culminates a recently passed bill that requires the issuing of receipts and introduces stiff fines and harsh penalties for persons caught with commercial quantities of agricultural goods, including animals, for which they cannot produce receipts.