A major challenge always is to galvanise Jamaican communities towards united action. The challenge takes on peculiar nuances when the community is deep rural and agricultural in character.

For one thing, farmers are inclined to be individualistic and fiercely independent, and as such don’t always see the benefit of collective action. Hence our interest in yesterday’s Sunday Observer article which speaks of strides made by residents of Stanmore in the Malvern region of South East St Elizabeth since the formation of a production marketing organisation (PMO) in their community.

The Stanmore group is one of many such formed across the country since last year as part of the Government’s drive to elevate efficiency in agricultural production and in the marketing of produce. As we understand it, government-run farm-support agencies such as the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) are better able to do their jobs if they can work with and through organised and formalised community groups.

That way the public sector experts and technocrats are not only able to influence farmers towards ‘best practices’ in the field but also in their choice of crops so as to reduce if not completely eliminate the debilitating cycles of gluts and shortages that have seriously hampered Jamaican agriculture. Also, information flow — so vital for systems to work — becomes easier.

In the case of the Stanmore PMO, farmers are apparently already seeing benefits not only in terms of ‘sweeteners’ such as fertiliser and seeds at discounted costs but also as a result of technical and marketing advice. We are struck by the comment from farmer Ms Lurna Hanson that RADA officers had encouraged her neighbours and herself “to plant different crops at different times, so even if you don’t plant on a wide scale you can sell, you can always sell”.

A huge spin-off is that the residents of Stanmore are now looking beyond agriculture as they seek full value from their newly formed community organisation. We are told that as a result of the petitioning by members of the PMO, a community catchment tank which had remained useless for 15 years because of leaks had been repaired and is again providing rain-harvested water to the people of Stanmore.

Also, the residents are now looking to the PMO to lead a drive to improve roads. From this distance, this newspaper visualizes a situation where communities such as Stanmore will see the benefit of utilising their organisation in other ways, including partnering with the police in fighting praedial larceny and the wider crime problem. In truth, the instinctive individualism that is so dominant in such communities has made it easier for armed criminals who now drift from urban centres to steal, rape and murder.

It would appear that the Government’s PMO policy is reaping dividends. It would do well to build on it.