Shaw hits the ground running
The Government is projecting 2.5 per cent economic growth for Jamaica over the 2018/19 fiscal year, and newly appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, and Fisheries Audley Shaw says he is totally committed to achieving that target.
A week after his new appointment, the former minister of finance and the public service’s first stop was the St Mary Agricultural Show at Gray’s Inn Sports Complex in Annotto Bay, on Easter Monday (April 2), where he indicated that he was comfortable with the new portfolios he has been given.
“This is my third full day on the job and I want to say how inspired I feel having gone to both the agricultural fair at Montpelier and now in Annotto Bay. I really feel inspired as your new minister of industry, commerce, agriculture and Fisheries,” he said.
He added that he was also pleased with the new agencies given him to manage, which include the Jamaica Promotions Corporation, the National Irrigation Commission Ltd and the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica.
Shaw explained that he has been passionate about agriculture since he was a teenager, and has been looking forward to put his experience and knowledge as a minister to the benefit of the agricultural sector.
The minister said that he was impressed with the potential for growth in the sector that he has seen since moving to his new ministry, as well as the willingness of Jamaican youth to invest both money and effort into planting crops and manufacturing items from the various raw materials.
He stated that much of what he had learnt as minister of finance and the public service would be valuable in his focus on the problems facing the micro-economy.
“The micro-economy is where every citizen can find an opportunity somewhere to be more productive and to make a decent living, and a big part of Jamaica’s solution to move from poverty to prosperity must be for us to take agriculture seriously,” he said.
On Wednesday Shaw was the guest speaker at the launch of Farmers’ Month at the Jamaica Agricultural Society offices on Church Street in downtown Kingston, where he focused on the achievements farmers, despite their many challenges.
He identified some of the issues such as: lack of access to flat fertile lands; credit, crop insurance; appropriate technology; improved farm road network; cheaper cost of funding; and praedial larceny.
“We recognise its value as an enabler for rural development and as an engine of growth for the overall economy, and for the lives and livelihoods of Jamaicans,” he said.
He acknowledged that the agricultural sector contributes over seven per cent to the gross domestic product and accounts for 20 per cent of the labour force.
The 2018/2019 Fiscal Policy Paper, which Shaw tabled in the House of Representatives on February 15, says that strengthening of most industries — particularly agriculture, fishing and forestry; mining and quarrying; hotels and restaurants; and electricity and water supply — is expected to drive the 2.5 per cent growth in 2018/2019.
This is based on increased demand associated with projected higher levels of employment and investments; growth in external demand for Jamaica’s goods and services; strengthening of competitiveness in some industries, following plant upgrades during 2017/18; improvements in the business environment; the roll-out of major strategic investment projects; and recovery from the negative impacts of flooding and excess rainfall last year.
Agriculture, fishing and forestry, which was severely impacted by adverse weather last year, is expected to rebound by seven per cent, and can also benefit from stronger linkages with the hotels and restaurants sector which is expected to grow by four per cent.