PRIME Minister Dr Andrew Holness says Jamaica needs a commercial ecosystem that promotes long-term investment in the agricultural sector to significantly boost national outputs and fully sustain the island’s visitors.

According to Holness, with more than four million visitors coming to Jamaica annually, collaboration between the agriculture and tourism sectors is essential to ensure that the island’s authentic experience extends to its food.

Holness was delivering the keynote address during the opening ceremony for the Caribbean Poultry Association (CPA) Eighth International Technical Symposium and Exhibition at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Tuesday.

Holness highlighted the poultry industry’s success in utilising long-term supply contracts as a model for the agriculture sector to adopt.

“The model that has been developed and has worked so well in the poultry industry is that you give your farmers long-term supply contracts so they can make, upfront, the investment, and know it will be secured in terms of the recovery of that investment over time,” said Holness.

The prime minister noted that farmers are often exempted because massive capital investments are necessary to establish controlled farming practices that can endure the ebbs and flows and the cyclical nature of agriculture.

“To have controlled farming, you [must] have large investments in, whether it is irrigation, whether it is controlled environment and temperatures or [green] houses. That takes significant capital investment. For that to happen, you can’t make that investment on the uncertainty of one or two crops. You need long-term certainty for the purchase of your output,” Holness said.

He also cited the absence of aggregators in large-scale agricultural ventures as a barrier to extending long-term supply contracts to farmers.

To address this, Holness has instructed Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green and Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett to facilitate long-term supply contracts between tourism operators and farmers.

“We have to create the commercial ecosystem that supports the long-term investment of farmers that gives them that certainty and security of return so that they can invest in increasing output. It is clear that the poultry industry leads the way in that, and it’s a good model for us to study and learn from,” he maintained.

Holness said while the poultry industry has faced challenges over the years, the sector has shown progress and continues to grow.

This year’s International Technical Symposium and Exhibition marks the 25th anniversary of the CPA.

The three-day event will examine poultry’s impact on the Caribbean, under the theme ‘Beyond Farming: The True Impact of Poultry’, while fostering greater collaboration among industry stakeholders and policymakers.

—JIS