PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) Norman Grant will not be up for re-election when the society meets to elect a new president on July 11.

Instead, two other veterans on the society’s executive body — Former Mayor of Montego Bay Glendon Harris and former head of the 4-H Clubs, Lenworth Fulton — will square off for the next three-year term, which begins in September.

Grant’s absence from the race, however, has nothing to do with his performance as head of the JAS but a rule, which requires that presidents of the society must withdraw after two consecutive three-year terms. His initial withdrawal was in 2009, when Harris was elected to serve until 2012 when Grant returned to head the society.

Harris who was also councillor for the Maroon Town Division in St James on the People’s National Party (PNP) ticket, was defeated in the November 2016 local government elections. Fulton, who served 12 years at the helm of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs, was CEO of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) up to May 2016.

But it seems that Grant, a former government senator nominated by the People’s National Party (PNP), could easily return to head the organsation in three years’ time, based on performance as well as the strong support he still attracts among the members of the JAS.

Under his leadership, the society initiated the “Eat Jamaican: Eat What We Grow and Grow What We Eat” campaign which, according to him, reduced Jamaica’s food import bill by approximately $500 million up to 2017 and increased domestic crop production to 490 tonnes, during the same period.

“It has been a game changer which has made us self-sufficient in poultry, table eggs and pork, and we have developed a plan for a $200-million central marketing system to assist the farmers in marketing their goods,” Grant told the Jamaica Observer.

He said that he is proud of his record, and will continue working with the JAS to achieve a number of other objectives.

“Under my leadership, the JAS has been transformational, and I will continue to work with the JAS and agencies like RADA, as well as seek the ministry’s support in meeting our targets,” he said.

Grant, meanwhile, welcomed the transfer of former finance and public service minister, Audley Shaw, to head the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICSAF), in the recent Cabinet shake-up.

”I really want to welcome him. He has attended virtually every event we have invited him to, since becoming minister, including the parish agricultural shows, and he will be our main speaker at the launch of the 2018 Denbigh Agricultural Show on June 6,” he noted.

The JAS was formed in 1895 under the instruction of the then Governor General of Jamaica Sir Henry Blake to stimulate interest of all categories of farmers in the island in agricultural pursuits.

Its mandate also includes establishing a forum where all farmers can meet, discuss their problems to initiate plans, elect officers and to do all other things necessary for the welfare of the farming community.

In 1941, it was incorporated as a private voluntary organization. It is currently an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, and serves as an umbrella organisation consisting of varied affiliated commodity boards and associations.