Shaw wants agri sector to push economic growth
MONTPELIER, St James — Audley Shaw, who argued Monday that agriculture has to be the main focus to replicate the growth that characterised the 1960s and late 1980s, has cited the need for Government lands, especially parcels with irrigation, to be made available to private investors.
“The Government has to, in a deliberate way, unleash its large acreage of lands and make them available to the private sector, particularly land with irrigation,” said Shaw, the newly appointed minister of industry, commerce, agriculture and fisheries.
“Although I have been on the job for only two working days, I have already commissioned the ministry to work with the Agro Investment Corporation, the National Irrigation Commission, Sugar Company of Jamaica and Jampro to:
• do inventory on all available Government lands;
• profile these lands based on their soil capabilities and availability of irrigation;
• identity value crops that can be grown on these lands; and
• package these lands for investments.
According to Shaw, there is need for the 220,000 small farmers to align themselves with their larger counterparts as a means of addressing the structural issues confronting the agricultural sector.
“The nature of the sector itself, dominated by a majority of small players, requires that we cluster them with larger farmers who will provide them with technology innovations, marketing contracts and pre-financing, where possible,” Shaw argued.
“On top of that, the ministry’s extension services will have to provide technical support to these farmers to lift their productivity. We cannot leave our 220,000 farmers behind.
He added: “While we try to uplift the small farmers we must of necessity focus on larger farms and bigger players. This us critical as we need economies of scale to achieve the levels of competitiveness we require in the global marketplace.”
He was speaking at the Jamaica Agriculture Society’s St James, Association of Branch Societies Montpelier Agricultural and Industrial Show, held on the Montpelier Agricultural Showground in St James, on Easter Monday.
In the meantime, Shaw while, insisting that his recent transfer from the finance ministry to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is not a demotion, said he has now turned his focus towards leading the charge towards economic growth “having piloted the Government’s ship to achieve macroeconomic stability through fiscal consolidation and with all the macroeconomic variables pointing in the right direction”.
“I now embrace the opportunity to lead the charge for economic growth, which is the greatest imperative for this Government,”added the minister.
“Macroeconomic stability is necessary but not sufficient. It is growth that is going to move people into prosperity, bolster rural development, increase employment, and reverse the rural-urban drift and poverty.”