Every Jamaican should give serious consideration to the example set by May Pen businessman Mr Stephen Liao.

An intriguing article in yesterday’s edition tells us that Mr Liao bought more than 1,800 pounds of farm produce from two farmers then gave it away to his more than 100 employees, as well as a few local vendors.

The desire to assist his employees and small retailers was presumably much to the fore in influencing Mr Liao’s action. But it seems he was primarily concerned with the difficulties facing farmers on whom we all depend for food security.

Said he: “They [farmers] have been toiling and struggling to plant their crops amid the drought conditions, and then the rains came for a few days, and when the crops came they [farmers] ended up with a surplus. So I just decided to purchase it from them, and because I have nowhere to sell ground produce, I just gave it out to my staff…”

Mr Liao told our reporter that he also has a relationship with poultry farmers — buying from them and retailing chicken meat in his store on occasions, including “a few months ago” when there was said to be a surplus.

“I don’t like to know that they [farmers] work so hard and then when they are ready to reap they end up with a glut and don’t know what to do with it, because the market is already saturated. Production costs are high and they will lose money, and they have their families to look after and bills to pay, so I do my part to encourage them to keep planting so they can survive too,” Mr Liao said.

Beneficiaries of Mr Liao’s gifts of farm produce were obviously grateful. “These once-in-a-while gestures do help. …This will help us along the way, though small it may seem,” said one vendor.

Beyond generosity, we believe actions such as Mr Liao’s assist in the push towards social stability in our extremely challenging environment.

Indeed, for those of us who are economically better off, compared to most others, we believe such actions represent enlightened self-interest.

Also, in his reference to farm “glut”, Mr Liao reminds us of a problem that has haunted Jamaican agriculture for as long as any of us can remember.

We refer to the chaotic cycle of surpluses and shortages — often linked to weather — which lead to price and supply instability, including wild swings from one extreme to the other.

Shortages lead to high prices and even windfall profits for those farmers able to secure their crop at a time when most others failed to do so; while a glut means a pile-up of produce with few buyers, low prices and heavy losses.

For decades, successive governments and agriculture ministers have spoken optimistically about resolving such problems through linkages to the ever-thriving tourism industry, as well as value-added food processing, post-harvest storage, and exports.

We accept that the situation may well have improved over time. But ongoing cyclical episodes show there remains a far way to go.

Agriculture Minister Mr Floyd Green, in his second go at the job, has his work cut out in dealing with these issues.