THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE CURRENT challenge of increasing world food prices clearly shows us that we need to push for food security. With this, we need to increase domestic agricultural production and attract more youth into viable agricultural entrepreneurial ventures. Tourism, however, has been positioned as the driver of the economy, but for it to truly drive properly, it must integrate and link effectively with the other sectors, most important of which is agriculture.

Boosting agriculture

Responsible growth in tourism development should, therefore, not seek to replace agriculture in certain areas, but more so to enhance it, especially in rural Jamaica. We must be careful how we position tourism as the new 'hot thing' at the cost of agriculture. Arable land and some of the human resources needed in the agricultural sector have to be maintained and enhanced.

The well-known challenge and opportunity underlying the relation-ship with tourism and agriculture is for local agriculture producers to supply tourism enterprises reliably and competitively; also, there exist opportunities in value-added agro-processing.

There should also be more encouragement for farmers to futher add value through providing a visitor experience on their farms, through unique Jamaican-oriented 'farm vacations' where a visitor can see how something is produced, then sample cuisine prepared with local ingredients from a local restaurant. An example is in the Walkers Wood community.

This alone will not achieve long-term food security, but it can be one element in a broader strategy to add greater viability for the agricultural sector, linking more directly with tourism.

I am, etc.,

MARK PIKE

mark@cct-jamaica.com