Lament of a pimento farmer
Dear Editor,
A recent report in the media mentioned the decline in the production of pimento in Jamaica.
This has not come as a surprise to me, as I am one of those pimento growers who have ceased reaping pimento and no longer plant the trees. This is because the low price which the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), loosely referred to as the Pimento Board, pays for dry pimento.
Up to last year JACRA was offering farmers $450.00 per pound for dried pimento. This price is not economical and is, at best, oppressive to pimento growers. These growers have to pay someone to “break” the pimento, that is, clip the branches of pimento from the tree and thereafter pay others to pick the pimento, that is to separate the berries from the branches and the leaves.
After this, the process of drying the pimento is usually done on a flat concrete surface called a barbecue, and after all of this the pimento is bagged for sale — only to be offered $450.00 per pound.
I checked the price for which Jamaican wholegrain/ungrounded pimento allspice is being sold in London and I note that it is being sold for £1.99 per 70-gram pack. Seventy (70) gram is 2½ ounces. So my math is telling me that the pimento from Jamaica is being sold in England for around $3,500.00 per pound.
The question that the JACRA needs to answer is: Who is reaping the value added between $450.00 per pound and $3,500.00 per pound?
Floyd Green, minister of agriculture, needs to get a hold of JACRA and satisfy himself that the entity is acting in the best interest of Jamaica and, in particular, pimento farmers. The minister needs to accept that if JACRA continues to pay such a low price for pimento more and more farmers will cease growing and reaping pimento.
In the long or not-too-long run Jamaica will have to import pimento.
The minister should take a serious look not only at the pimento industry but generally at the operations of JACRA, given its monopoly over the export of a number of agricultural produce and see whether they are acting in the best interest of Jamaica.
Linton P Gordon
lpgordon@cwjamaica.com
