JAMAICA LABOUR Party Spokesman on Agriculture, J.C. Hutchinson, has criticised the Government's policy of limiting assistance to ackee farmers owning five acres and more.
Mr. Hutchinson said that while he fully supported the efforts to increase ackee production to meet new markets in the United States, he was concerned that only farmers with five acres and more and only those with hillside lands were being assisted.
"I want to ask the Minister if the programme can now take in arable lands which are on the plains and also to accommodate farmers that have under five acres," he said.
But, Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, responded that in devising the programme, the Government had to look at the fact that only 100 trees could be planted per acre. In this case it was decided to start with a threshold of five acres.
In terms of the hillside lands chosen, he said that they were arable lands which had become "slightly saline" and were not flood proned, they can grow ackee but not sugar cane. However, he said that the Government was interested on everyone coming on board even in the city of Kingston.
Mr. Hutchinson said that it was the farmers with less than five acres which were really in need of Government assistance.
The arguments were raised yesterday, as the House of Representatives debated a Motion from Mr. Hutchinson, calling for more Government effort towards increasing ackee production and that the Minister table an action plan outlining steps to take full advantage of the new export opportunities in the United States.
Mike Henry (JLP, Central Clarendon) suggested that the Government look at copyrighting the product as Jamaican, to ward off competitors using Jamaica's name. Mr. Clarke said that this was already in process, but this was approved along with Mr. Hutchinson's resolution.
Mr. Clarke said that farmers approved for the programme are given $14,400 per acre to help with land preparation, plus 80 per cent of the cost of the seedlings and fertiliser over a protracted period.
