Grant (left) and Johnson

The Senate on Friday passed a resolution calling for a 10-year strategic development plan for the banana industry, faced with local production challenges as well as a more demanding international trading environment.

This development plan is to be derived from a detailed consultative process involving the Government and various stakeholders on the future of the industry.

The resolution was moved by Senator Anthony Johnson, Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture, and won government members' support, after significant amendments were made, mainly at the suggestion of government member, Norman Grant.

Amended version

The amended version took some of the edge off the implicit criticisms of the Government's handling of the industry over the last decade, thereby making it palatable enough for its members to support the opposition's initiative.

Senator Johnson took this in stride, conceding that it was better to have a watered down text, if it achieved his ultimate objective - a detailed examination of the issues affecting the industry, and a plan for its restoration.

He highlighted the fact that the banana industry had shrunk from a production of 250,000 tonnes in 1966 to 50,000 tonnes in 2005, "causing loss of earnings to our farmers and the country". That loss, he said, had resulted in a decimation of many villages and towns, which formerly thrived on the profits of banana cultivation.

Senator Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, while conceding that the industry faced serious challenges, reminded his colleagues that the precipitous decline to 50,000 tonnes in 2005 was a direct consequence of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Prior to that, he said, the industry had been in a fairly healthy state, with production of 200,944 tonnes in 2002 and 202,040 tonnes in 2003. Then, when Hurricane Ivan struck in September 1994 it destroyed the rest of that year's crop, resulting in an output of only 161,000 tonnes. The recovery began in 2006, he said, with local production moving up from the 50,000 recorded in 2005 to 107,000.

As for the criticism that not enough money had been invested in the industry, Senator Grant said that the Government of Jamaica and the European Union had spent $4 billion in the industry over the last 10 years. Furthermore, he said, there was now $2.5 billion available for loan to the entire agricultural sector, with banana farmers set to benefit significantly from this initiative.