PEOPLE’S National Party (PNP) candidate for St Andrew West Rural Krystal Tomlinson has vowed to protect the interests of coffee farmers in the constituency, if elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) on September 3.

Tomlinson, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer following her nomination on Tuesday, said she intends to go to Parliament to ensure that a minimum price is set for coffee that will guarantee greater economic yields for coffee farmers.

“What West Rural St Andrew is tired of is changing MPs and watching the price fluctuate with each administration. So when they elect a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP, it goes down. When they elect a PNP MP, it goes up, and when they elect a JLP MP, it goes down. So they are depending on us now to get it back up, and under my tenure as MP, we are going to keep it up,” a confident Tomlinson said.

She described the area as part of a coffee belt, and said she expects the other MPs who are part of that belt of coffee production to partner with her in order to have a proper team defending coffee farmers.

“It’s not going to be Krystal alone, but we are expecting [candidate] Joan Gordon Webley from East Rural [St Andrew] as well to be in Parliament to help seal the deal, and a similar case in East Portland. We are all going to be working together to secure the future of our coffee,” she said.

Former St Andrew West Rural MP Paul Buchanan came out to support Tomlinson, and explained that the coffee farmers in Brandon Hill are hurting.

“When I got the constituency from Andrew Gallimore, coffee was $3,000 a box. I took it to $15,000 a box; now it is back at $3,000. There is total economic ruin, especially in Brandon Hill — not one farm standing. The Government made a big mistake having sold Wallenford, then they sold Mavis Bank, and one man set the price. When one man set the price, everything guh down. On the other side of the coin, you have a candidate who has spent four and a half years, most of the time agitating in Parliament about abortion. I’m just talking facts. At the centre of all of this, di whole a di farmers in the constituency have been ruined, lives have been ruined. So goes coffee, so goes West Rural [St Andrew],” Buchanan said.

The former MP also said the empty promises of the JLP caused the PNP to lose the seat in the last election, but the farmers have felt the pinch and will put their ‘X’ beside the head on September 3.

“How can a man who do two highways, five IT centres, three health centres, three bridges in 48 months, plus whole heap of roads, lose? You lose because people thought they were getting minimum wage increased to $14,000 instead of $7,000; they were supposed to get it by April 1 after that election. It’s not that you promised it, you give a date. That was strong, that was very strong, but all of that has come to nought. Stony Hill, JLP’s stronghold, came out; Brandon Hill, sitting there waiting to pick coffee for $14,000 stayed home – that’s our stronghold. They will not stay home any more, because they are feeling it now, lives have been ruined,” Buchanan charged. “Nowhere in the world, in a free society, do people go into a polling station and vote when dem conditions worse off. It’s A+B. If A is the economy of Jamaica with $150 to US$1, you have the COVID-19, so that, plus that, is desolation.”

He explained that Tomlinson has already began to let farmers know that once she is elected she will get regulations relaxed, while maintaining standards.

“So more farmers will go into production, they will go into processing, they will go into polishing, they will go further up the food chain. No longer will they be primary producers of coffee beans, [and] when that is done, you will have more buyers and the price will go back up again,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tomlinson’s supporters said they are eager to go to the polls in another two weeks.

“She a work wid the people dem, and di people dem can work wid her. Mi come from Brandon Hill enuh, and mi see she come up deh already and she use her own money out of her pocket and she gi the people dem da money deh, and dem fix the road. It nuh asphalt though enuh, true she nuh really have it like that yet, but we see seh we can work wid her,” Kedgron Grant said.

Alex Gaywood, who resides in Mandeville, Manchester, but is registered to vote in St Andrew West Rural, said Tomlinson is the right person for the constituency and that come September 3, they will sweep out the JLP.

Another elector, Velona Webb said: “She is the right person for the young people, for the coffee farmers. We are dying to see coffee get back its progress, and I think she will do a better job.”

“We want something better for the young people, we have to vote for our rights,” another constituent, Taniel Webb, said.