FARMING is the lifeblood of the majority of Jamaica’s rural population, therefore, it is imperative that full support be given to our farmers.

The greatest difficulty facing our farmers relates to the lack of irrigation, refusal to adapt to newer technologies and the unrealistic expectation that our farmers could function as efficient producers and marketers simultaneously.

We must encourage new approaches like farmers in Old Folley in Discovery Bay, St Ann who are using greenhouse technology to grow vegetables for the hoteliers in the area.

Let’s start solving the problem by finding the market. We cannot have farmers producing and marketing. We need specialisation of labour. The hotels are there, and the farmers are also there so we must bridge the gap between the two. Our aim must be to also help with increasing yield and preventing extortion at the farmer’s gate. We must capture our own market first and then the export market. Our agricultural produce have no hormones, they are healthier produce, and thus…we need public education of consumers to eat local. The former Prime Minister Michael Manley said it best: “Grow or perish, export or die”.

Family for Growth is a non-profit organisation that has been established to help secure farming produce for our households. FFG’s mandate is to promote agriculture to improve the family’s quality of life, reduce poverty and sustain its reduction, encourage self-reliance within the family and promote family health and wealth. Menu planning is about budgeting, saving time and optimising nutrition. Where shopping at home first (checking the cupboards and refrigerator) coupled with the crops reaped from the micro farms will be encouraged. Further, this will translate into Jamaicans being cultured in a realistic way to live the ‘Grow What We Eat, Eat What We Grow’ campaign of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS).

The organic waste generated by the kitchen, other places in and around the home can be composted. The compost can be used as a soil amendment to improve fertility, texture and water holding capacity of the farms and/or container gardens in more developed areas. Container Gardening is the use of recycled inexpensive containers filled with suitable soil mix to cultivate crops or flowers in a controlled environment. This is not new technology. The legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) is one of the finest such examples from recorded history.

In an effort to counteract the effect of rising food costs, the initiative is aimed at assisting householders to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs in small spaces. By simply growing two cycles of tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper and pak choi, the average household would save approximately $12,000 annually.

Improving the life skill set of Jamaicans through agriculture will stimulate and sustain an economic transition from over-consumption of foreign goods to local production and consumption.

We must also aim to stimulate and sustain a novel personal habit in micro-agricultural production with the benefit of greater self-reliance and amelioration from economic strain and we are yet to scratch the surface as I have not spoken of argo-processing yet.

Dr Dayton Campbell is Member of Parliament for St Ann North West.