No hope for small farmers, says Hutchinson
OPPOSITION spokesman on agriculture, JC Hutchinson, has accused the government of offering no hope to the island’s small farmers who constitute 84.7 per cent of the farming community.
“There is inadequate dissemination of information to farmers, there is no comprehensive marketing system, no zoning of crops, and no organisation for bulk purchasing of supplies although the cost of inputs to farmers have increased substantially,” Hutchinson declared in the house of representatives during his contribution to last week’s sectoral debate.
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on agriculture warned that agricultural production would continue to decline if the government did not commit more resources to research, marketing and extension services.
“Agricultural production has been declining since 1996,” Hutchinson said. “All bona fide cocoa farmers have already died out from old age or malnutrition.”
He blamed much of the problems being faced in agriculture on the need for a proper marketing plan on which production should be based. He warned, however, that the government should be the driving force in developing and implementing a system for marketing agricultural produce.
“We hear the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) is to receive $10 million from the government to implement an agricultural marketing programme, but I think it is the ministry of agriculture that should set up such a programme,” Hutchinson argued.
The opposition spokesman on agriculture said that while he was not criticising the JAS, it would be preferable for “a more accountable body” to be put in charge of the marketing programme.
Hutchinson also criticised the government’s plans to counter praedial larceny. He said that the proposed system of farmers issuing receipts for all goods purchased so that the law could identify those who were stealing, could be subverted through collusion between farmers and thieves.
The JLP spokesman on agriculture also noted that it could prove impractical for receipts to be issued on small amounts of produce that were given as gifts by farmers. He suggested that the receipt system should only be used in cases of “commercial amounts” being transferred.
The various categories of minimum commercial amounts, he said, could fall under the headings of:
* 10-pound category — pepper, tomato, thyme, escallion etc;
* 20-pound category — apples, mangoes, oranges etc;
* 40-pound category — pumpkins, yams, jackfruit etc.
With regard to freshly-slaughtered meat, Hutchinson suggested that only quantities of 50 pounds of beef or more; or one-quarter or more of pigs and goats should require a receipt.
During his presentation, the opposition spokesman on agriculture also made a strong appeal for the expansion of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) programme of extension officers to assist small farmers all over the island. He said that these officers were essential for disseminating information, helping farmers to access essential inputs and could play a greater role in providing assistance in marketing.