YOU get the feeling while talking to Dr Christopher Tufton that he wasn’t ready to leave the agriculture ministry. After all, his achievements have been impressive since he was assigned the portfolio in September 2007 after the Jamaica Labour Party was voted into office. And, going by his ‘things-to-do list’, he had quite a lot left to accomplish.

But Tufton admits he’s a team player. So when Prime Minister Bruce Golding reassigned him to the industry, investment and commerce ministry two weeks ago, Tufton accepted the change without protest.

Statistical Institute of Jamaica data for the period 2007 to 2010 show that under his watch at the Ministry of Agriculture domestic crop production increased 17.1 per cent, or 72,999 tons in absolute terms — the highest in 11 years — while the overall agricultural sector GDP grew by 6.5 per cent and land usage increased by approximately 14 per cent, or about 5,000 additional hectares.

Of significance too, is the fact that volumes increased at a faster rate than land usage, a factor that demonstrates an overall improvement in productivity over the three-year period.

Although he was the man at the helm of the agriculture ministry, Tufton is adamant that credit for the sector’s impressive performance is not his alone. That accounts for his use of the pronoun ‘we’ as he reflects on the almost four years he spent in the sector.

The philosophical thinking of their approach to the sector, he told the Sunday Observer in an interview, was to steer the production cycles and structures away from a commodity producer to a value-added branded producer.

That, he explained, meant improving the efficiency of primary output, but more importantly, linking primary output into agro-processing.

“We built that philosophy on four planks: marketing, investment, research and training, and extension support,” he said.

In relation to marketing, Tufton said the sector needed to be market sensitive and market-driven. “Instead of planting and looking for markets, look for markets, understand markets and plant to go and sell to the markets.”

He said that the marketing unit in the ministry was revamped and professional marketers were brought in.

“They have established a platform where they are now in touch with the markets — the agro-processors, the retailers, the hoteliers. We’ve put a web-based software system in place where consumers can go via the Internet and get farm gate prices which we update each week. So it gives them an idea of what is selling for what and where it is available,” said Tufton.

“We also have an e-mail system that goes out to over 5,000 buyers of agricultural produce every week, so the hotel purchasing manager, when it comes in on his e-mail automatically, he knows what is available, what the prices are. He can follow up with that by contacting a RADA parish officer to say ‘Okay, I want tomatoes, etc’. So what we have done is improve the information flow between the markets and the producers.

“We also have a text messaging system that we use to send out information to the farmers on anything that is important to them and what they do. It could be information on weather-related risk, market-related conditions, etc, and that, again, is a first for them. So they are now into using simple technology that makes them feel a part of a process as opposed to being isolated,” he said.

The investment plank, he explained, was informed by his team’s belief that the private sector had to drive the investment process. “Government cannot be the key drivers, it has to be motivated by initiative; people have to use creativity,” he said.

To push the investment focus, Tufton said they merged two entities — the Agricultural Development Corporation and the Agricultural Support Services Project — to create one investment arm within the ministry called AgroInvest.

“That is a business-facilitation entity,” he explained. “It packages and promotes agricultural investment along the value chain; not just primary, but processing. So we have some investment officers who write business plans; we promote by going to investment sessions with JAMPRO and so on as we did in London last year where we speak to investors and tell them about the opportunities.”

The need for research and training, he said, was guided by the belief that “if you’re going to be on the cutting-edge of creating brands and processing, you must have the latest technology to work with”.

As a result, the centre of excellence was launched two years ago and agriculture ministry officials are now in discussions with the Ministry of Education and the University of the West Indies to look at the transformation of Elim Agricultural School into an agro-business institute, which would offer applied research and training in agriculture to further boost the value chain.

Extension support was necessary because farmers were primarily small farmers, not formally trained. Therefore, there was a need to upgrade their skills by providing better outreach.

Giving an example of the extension support provided by the ministry, Tufton said that extension services provided by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) have been doubled, and livestock officers and marketing officers have been assigned in each parish.

“We provided extension officers with a much more professional terms of reference to operate,” he said. “So they are required now to be recertified each year by undergoing 60 hours of training as part of their job requirement so that they keep abreast of technology. They are equipped with extension kits so that when they go into the field they can collect soil samples.”

The upshot, he said, is that the extension officers now have a better appreciation for what they need to do.

The aim is to make them more professional players with the farmers, so they basically “become the farmers’ doctors”.

Tufton also pointed to the introduction of a tractor programme through which farmers can lease tractor services.

“For us, RADA has become a lot more responsive, a lot more sensitive,” he said. “There’s a toll-free number where farmers can now call in if they’re not getting the service that they require and it has overall created a better perception about RADA.

“RADA is the face of the ministry, so the farmers’ impression of RADA is the impression they have of the ministry and the Government, so RADA was very important for us.”

Another success highlighted by Tufton was the greenhouse unit that they have established which, he said, has resulted in a major expansion in the use of greenhouse technology.

“It has got to the point now where it’s proving a challenge, because we’re producing so much in the greenhouses at such good quality that you find that some times of the year, like over the last couple of months, we have excess, so we’re trying to source markets outside of Jamaica,” he said.

“This is the first time we have not imported bell peppers in recorded history, and the quality is exceptional,” he boasted.

He appeared particularly satisfied with the policies he promoted during his tenure — a food and nutrition policy, which he said was still “a work in progress”; food safety, which is now being developed; organic policy; agricultural land use policy; plant health policy; and the banana policy.

“All of those are grounded in some form of studies, and there is now a follow-on to use those policies, once they are completed, to develop legislation to support better framework for operations in the industry,” he said.

He also pointed to the passing of the Dairy Development Board Act, which is seeking to restructure the dairy industry and legislate a more protected environment for dairy farmers, many of whom experienced decline in their businesses due to competition from imported milk powder.

In relation to the fishing industry, Tufton placed on the table the Fisheries Act which, he said “has come a long way” but which will eventually benefit the industry.

“But beyond that, over the last couple of years we have done a lot for the fisheries industry,” he said, adding that nine fish sanctuaries have been established, bringing to 11 the number of sanctuaries.

“We have put a fund in place, based on the conch cess, which now supports NGOs to police the sanctuaries,” he explained. “We’re building out a programme to use those sanctuaries, as is done in other countries, to expand fish stock. We changed the mesh size to a bigger size, so that the smaller fish can survive.”

Among the other issues being addressed, he said, are the installation of communications equipment for fishers at sea; registration of vessels; the requirement for vessels and fishers to have necessary equipment; and refurbishing the infrastructure of 30 beaches across the island.

He also revealed that they had introduced a fisheries loan scheme, for which many of the fishers were advocating long before he took over the ministry. However, due to a lack of collateral, not many of them accessed the facility.

Continues tomorrow.