Long before the declaration of Independence, Norman Washington Manley spoke sadly about one of Jamaica’s major hindrances to progress. He said it was not the shortage of ideas, but the lack of both “fixity of purpose and continuity of effort”.

I was reminded of this truth when the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) announced yet another plan for the central marketing of farmers’ produce. To me, it seemed to be the reinvention of a wheel that had been set rolling way back in the 20th century when we had a far-reaching, comprehensive central market called the Agricultural Marketing Corporation (AMC).

It is axiomatic that an assured market is essential in any field of agricultural production. Therefore, the present leadership of the (JAS) can be commended for reviving the idea and shaping it to include electronics and other modern techniques of communication. Still, from what I have read, this latest plan pales in comparison with the network of activity in which the AMC was involved more than half a century ago. Moreover, it is an announcement that has been made several times since 2012.

In essence, here in 2015 the JAS is now working to establish a Marketing Information Centre (JASMIC) to help farmers market their produce on a timely basis. The organisation is being carried out by a consortium of software engineers who will devise the means of listing and communicating with registered farmers as well as potential buyers of their produce. According to the JAS President Senator Norman Grant: “Farmers will be able to access the system by phone (voice or text) or by any other communication device connected to the Internet…those familiar with the Internet may use their laptops, tablets or PCs to supply information on production to the call centre.”

Now, where did I hear that before? In December 2012, there was a bright newspaper headline stating, ‘Central marketing system for farmers coming soon’. In that story, the president was quoted as promising that the system would be running in 2013 and that: “Under the system, farmers of fruits and vegetables will be able to sell their produce at one central location in selected parishes…farmers will also be given contracts, which they then can use to get loans through People’s Co-operative Bank.”

Getting to that target must have been by small and careful steps. So, in March last year, the report of the president included an announcement that a call centre was about to be established. It would “…utilise an online marketing platform to capture and disseminate information on farmers’ production, market demand, and prices. This platform will have the capacity to interface with the farming community, buyers, extension services, government agencies, and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector…”

If that sounds familiar, it is the same call centre that was re-announced a couple of weeks ago; and it is to be what was referred to last year as “something resembling the defunct Agricultural Marketing Corporation”. Patience is a virtue, they say, so let’s wait and keep our fingers crossed. Meanwhile, we should remind ourselves of how our elected leaders tend to go around in circles rather than move forward with ‘fixity of purpose’.

The idea of a central market for our farmers’ production was mooted early in 1962 when the then Agriculture Minister Keble Munn told the JAS of the Government’s plan to establish a central market to handle farm produce for the fresh market as well as processed foods. The organisation would be run on commercial lines with firm supply contracts between the corporation and individual farmers and groups of farmers.

It was proposed that the corporation would concentrate on marketing domestic goods, including fish and livestock, and that its basic functions would include the fostering of local production by providing or promoting adequate marketing outlets and improving their efficiency. Farmers would get assured prices for some products, which would in turn be sold by the corporation to hotels, food processors and the general public.

Six months after Munn’s announcement, the Government changed and Independence was declared; but the idea of a central market stuck. The new Administration ran with it and by the end of 1962 the AMC, with some amendments, was in operation. At its peak the AMC served the farmers and the country so well it is of concern that the politicians eventually ran it into the burial ground and have since been introducing all sorts of stop-gap substitutes.

For those who do not know or can’t remember, the AMC, with headquarters at Spanish Town Road, had branches and hundreds of buying stations and distribution depots across the island. From Monday to Saturday it bought, collected, processed and distributed a wide range of fruits, such as paw paws, guineps; vegetables like carrots, callaloo, cauliflower, cucumber; ground provisions, Irish potatoes, sweet yam, sweet potatoes, and cocos; pulses from red peas and broad beans to peanuts.

In addition to wholesale distribution to supermarkets, restaurants, canteens, hotels, and higglers, the AMC had retail outlets serving householders around the island with quality products, washed, graded and sold at stable prices. Then there were exports to the USA, Carifta and the United Kingdom.

Ten years after its formation, the Government changed and fixity of purpose seemed to have prevailed. However, continuity of effort suffered a change. Political ideology crept in to challenge the ways of the free market, the Government took over the right to employ staff, disputes arose between unionised AMC workers and farmers, and by the end of 1978 a report described the organisation as facing some difficult times with millions of dollars in losses, controversial restructuring, staff cuts, and a generally dismal performance.

When the Government changed again in the late 1980s, the AMC, in the eyes of the new Administration, was ready for shut-down and restructuring. Out of that came a ‘new AMC Export Centre’ for the storage, processing and export of domestic crops. It had facilities for telex communications, packaging and grading; and storage and warehousing for farmers, exporters and buyers. There were chill rooms capable of holding 420,000lbs of produce and accommodation for the services of the US Department of Agriculture’s inspectorate, local Customs inspection, and Ministry of Agriculture supervision.

At the opening of the facility, the then prime minister opined: “In 1981, when it was decided to close down the AMC, it was something that was unheard of in the sense that the Government was treading on sacred ground: ‘Whoever heard of telling farmers that we were not going to buy produce at the farm gate anymore?’ However, according to state calculations, farmers were producing more and selling more.”

Interestingly, the then PM philosophised: “There are so many things that a Government has to do; first, there is the outcry, then there are the results, then there is reflection, then there is reassessment, and then, I hope, after the reassessment there is acknowledgement.”

Still there were those who hankered after the older days when trucks from the Agricultural Marketing Corporation were in their area on a weekly schedule making purchases. That, as always, was a key factor to successful marketing of farm products, and it seems to have been left out of the new considerations. It might also have been the sounding of the death knell of the AMC, for in due course it withered on the vine.

Since that time, a quarter of a century ago, numerous attempts have been made to assuage the farmers’ hunger for a reasonable guarantee of outlets for their produce. Up to now all have fallen short of the mark. Maybe if we had persisted with the principles of ‘fixity of purpose and continuity of effort’ we’d still be enjoying the golden years of the Agricultural Marketing Corporation.

Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire

To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire!

Would not we shatter it to bits — and then

Re-mould it nearer to the Heart’s Desire!

— Omar Khayyam

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Senator Norman Grant

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Farmers have hungered for a reasonable guarantee of outlets for their produce.