With regional food security on the CARICOM front burner agenda…Guyana, Jamaica aiming at upgraded dairy sectors

Seemingly mindful not to get left behind in what is now a region-wide focus on upgrading the food security bona fides of CARICOM countries, Jamaica is making significant investments in technology associated with the strengthening of its dairy industry. The country’s Agriculture Minister, Floyd Green, is quoted in the January 27th issue of the Jamaica Observer as saying that it is investing $J1.2 billion in the re-development of the country’s Bodles Agriculture Research Station, as part of a “wider research and development drive by the Jamaican Government to help revive the country’s dairy industry.” Green, according to The Observer article, has conceded that there had been a lack of investment in the dairy industry in Jamaica over two decades, asserting that the envisaged investment boost will target “new equipment and improved human resource capacity.” The initiative, he said, “should be churning out research in agriculture and, in particular, the dairy industry over the next three years.”

As an adjunct to the expansion of the country’s envisaged dairy investment plans, Green reportedly said that the sector will, simultaneously, be developing “fodder* banks… to ensure there is adequate grass to feed cattle.” Jamaica’s dairy industry has been in existence for several decades though local industry experts have reportedly tagged a lack of continuity in scientific research as much of the reasons for the decline of the sector. The decline has also been attributed to the liberalization of Jamaica’s economy during the 1980’s, a move that is linked to the importation of milk and milk powder. This importation move, it is widely felt, has been the major contributor to the decline in local milk production. The Caribbean’s relatively recent enhanced focus on regional food security has brought the role of the dairy industry further to the fore. Last year, Guyana’s Demerara Distillers Ltd, better known for its rum products, announced that it will be opening its US$16 million dairy farm at Moblissa this year.

The enhanced focus on the dairy industry in the Caribbean coincides with the current broader regional preoccupation with the strengthening of its food security bona fides in the light of concerns expressed at the level of United Nations-affiliated organizations regarding the food challenges currently confronting the region.