Members of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association (JCGA) are anxiously waiting to hear more about plans for a new project to be spearheaded by government which seeks to increase production and to move the local coffee industry forward.

Speaking to the Jamaica Observer this week, president of the JCGA Donald Salmon said the details of the plan, which should have been shared from almost a month ago with his association by industry regulator, the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), which was mandated by government to do so, is yet to be done.

“In meeting with JACRA, we were told that government has this project for the entire coffee industry, of which were to be given a copy to see how best we can work with government and also provide our own feedback.

“We were promised by JACRA, after a very fruitful meeting with them, that a copy of this plan would have been shared with us from about September 15, in order to allow for our scrutinisation and input, but to date, we still have not gotten this plan. As a result, this has caused some frustration, also bearing negative impacts for the coffee farming community whose members now view their future earning potential as threatened,” Salmon said.

The JCGA head further said that the failure in making the information of this plan by government fully know has also started to impact segments of its own High Mountain project which seeks to, among other things, restore output through the planting of new crops aided by research and development and to secure more markets for the globally sought after commodity.

“At the moment we are at a stalemate as we wanted to work with government on the way forward, especially with the High and Blue Mountain coffee. We had developed a plan of our own which was shared with government which they have indicated needs to be reworked. Our project has a commercial and a replanting aspect which we were to initially commence as a pilot project and depending on the level of funding, had plan to start with about 50 acres,” the president continued, noting the halting of some activities under their plan which has impacted the replanting of crop, recruitment of new farmers and the acquisition of land.

“These parts had to be halted, as we have not received the promised information from government concerning their plan. We are, however, still trying to work on implementing the commercial side which deals with procurement as it relates to buying from farmers,” Salmon added.

Through the JCGA’s High Mountain project, the launch of a recent ‘Grounds for Growth’ initiative done in partnership with coffee brewers Salada Foods Jamaica Limited, which aims to repurpose Salada’s manufacturing by-products into organic fertiliser material to cost-effectively improve the yield of local coffee farmers, also serves as a component.

Salmon said that while members of his association were not opposed to a government project, they need to be privy to the details of the plan, especially as it relates to the budget, before determining if it will be something worthwhile or one with which they could agree.

“We don’t like the top-down approach, with people planning for us, then tell us what to do…so we want to be a part of the process. We have written back to JACRA requesting the information but we have still not heard back from them as yet,” he added.

The JCGA head, when asked about how current delays are likely to impact the future of the coffee industry, in his response said, “I probably would give you a Mr Christie”, borrowing from a controversial comment made by executive director of the Integrity Commission following a recent incident and seeking to direct responses to that question from the Government.

“If government wants to do a project with coffee farmers, I think it would be in the best interest of all parties to have dialogue so that we can plan together for the way forward as we work towards building the future of the local coffee industry,” Salmon said, noting, however, his own expectation for word to come soon about what will be the next step.

“I’m a very patient man, so I remain optimistic, hoping that something will happen soon enough and for the agriculture ministry to act in the best way and for the interest of our farmers,” he said.