Improving our rural and farm road networks

IN 1983, A. Sinclair, then vicepresident of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), moved a resolution for the country to observe the celebration of Farmers’ Month annually and to salute the farmers for their continued contribution. This year is a major milestone as we celebrate the 35th observance.

Our over 250,000 farmers and fisherfolk continue to make a major contribution to the development of the Jamaica economy, notwithstanding the binding constraints that continue to affect the sector.

The sector contributes over seven per cent to the GDP and 20 per cent to the labour force. Our domestic crop production at the end of the calendar year 2017 was approximately 630, 450 tonnes – a decrease of 6 per cent when compared to the 668,755 tonnes produced in 2016.

As the JAS salutes our farmers, we highlight again during the 2018 Farmers’ Month celebration the need to improve our rural and farm road networks, the need for greater access to funding and cheaper cost of funding for the sector, as well as stricter measures against praedial larceny. The issues of land and title reforms are also critical.

So as we celebrate the 35th Farmers’ Month under the theme ‘Grow What We Eat, Eat What We Grow’, let us uplift the achievement of our farmers. Through this campaign, domestic crop production increased from 491,000 tonnes to 668,000 tonnes at the end of 2016, and we saved over US$500 million over the period. The effort of our farmers has been game-changing, so we salute their efforts during this year’s Farmers’ Month celebration.

NORMAN W. GRANT, OD, JP President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society