Dear Editor,

For decades, there has been a cry to “eat what we grow and grow what we eat”, and the cry has been louder in recent months. While it is ideal to grow what we eat and eat what we grow, it has not been shown to be economically defensible, because the cost of production here is higher than, for example, in the US, our principal trading partner that is also able to enjoy the benefit of economies of scale of production because of the sheer geographic size of the country and its market. The same can be said of China as another example.

On the other hand, we ought to import what we can produce if the resources used for production can be channelled into productive ventures, which will earn enough to at least offset the difference in importing rather than producing.

Incidentally, the pledge of our prime minister to work to achieve economic independence is illusory not only because we, as a poor country, cannot be independent, but no country is truly independent or has ever been so. All are inter-dependent as everyone of us is and will always be, in keeping with natural law, dependent on others. And this is reflected in the saying that no man is an island, no man stands alone. Or have we forgotten.

Owen S Crosbie

Mandeville, Manchester

oss@cwjamaica.com