Agricultural issues need urgent attention

Tue, Jun 5. 2012

Editor: Minister Caesar must be commended for his bold initiative, aiming to rejuvenate the Agriculture Sector. The fundamental reality is, when the Agri-sector is booming, the country’s economy thrives overall. There are some urgent and important issues that must be considered and addressed if this initiative is to produce meaningful and sustainable results.{{more}}

(1) Farmers’ consultations: the farmers must be involved in the entire process. It is imperative that all stakeholders, including Supermarkets, Hotels, Vendors and Traffickers get involved in meaningful discussions on the way forward. Some Supermarkets and Hotels have the capacity to contract Farmers to produce what they need instead of importing. This must be explored.

(2) SVG is probably the only agricultural based economy in the Caribbean without a Marketing Board/Agency at state level. There must be some form of coordinated approach towards marketing agricultural produce regionally and internationally. This is quite puzzling; we have no marketing agency exploring new marketing initiatives on behalf of farmers. How do we implement required specifications and standards to enable us to be competitive at the market place? How do we decide what to produce? These are just a few questions that need answers.

(3) The Ministry of Agriculture, with its present structure, is outdated. The ministry must be repositioned to meet the challenges associated with modern Agriculture. This is so glaring! It must focus more on results-oriented, sustainable food production.

(4) SVG must identify a minimum of six crops that we have a comparable/competitive advantage in producing. This is the way Jamaica, for instance, is moving forward with their Agriculture. We need more sustainable, export oriented crops.

(5) Crop production must be aligned with import reduction and self sufficiency. Trinidad is producing onions in partnership with Caribbean Chemicals. The objective here is to reduce the importation of onions. Which commodity are we seeking to import less into SVG?

(6) We must make better use of our friendship with Brazil. This is the sixth largest economy in the world, with a strong agriculture sector. Farmers leave the USA and successfully take up farming in Brazil. Brazil has farming technology we could benefit from.

(7) The status of the irrigation infrastructure at Orange Hill and Langley Park is confusing. The systems seem to be ‘just there’ while the country struggles with erratic rainfall and we have the irrigation technology in place, poorly maintained and idle.

(8) A bold decision must be made concerning those idle farmlands at Orange Hill. There is unemployment bordering forty percent, even though there are individuals willing to go into sustainable farming as a business, but the politics of those lands are a major issue.

(9) The government must invest a minimum of one million dollars into the Agriculture Sector. This has to be an addition to that which was budgeted for 2012, otherwise the Minister is simply whistling in the dark. All farmers need a credit facility for all crops. Banana farmers need to be paid on a timely basis and at a fair price, otherwise Operation Plant Back will not be attractive to existing and new farmers.

(10) Agricultural Input warehouse supplies are duty free, yet their mark-up is alarmingly high. It is better to shop elsewhere; even with duty other suppliers are generally cheaper than the Agricultural Input warehouse.

GB