Campbell, Shirley, Glasgow and Golding

Financial stakeholders, speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum at the newspaper's North Street offices recently, offered the following suggestions to government:

"We need to take [control] of our own destiny and part of that is ensuring that we can feed ourselves," says People's National Party senator, Mark Golding.

The former investment banker says creative ways have to be found to redistribute agricultural produce so food is not wasted.

"There are inner-city areas where people are going to be more and more under pressure. What ways are there to ensure the food doesn't go to waste?" he asks.

No monitoring

Less than five months ago, vegetable farmers of St Elizabeth had to dump thousands of pounds of nutritiously rich crops, like broccoli and cauliflower, due to shortage of buyers.

Anne Shirley, a financial analyst who manages a farm in the parish, agrees that the agricultural returns in Jamaica are not being carefully monitored and harnessed.

"When I have to be taking cabbage and feeding pigs and others, I just pack up the back of my car with melons and whatever, and take it to Kingston and people's homes and say, 'have it'," she says.

Chief executive officer of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, Sandra Glasgow, says a national strategy that encourages people to go into farming is needed urgently.

"These are issues that we need to tackle," she says. "We are really not putting in smart strategies to deal with the issue."

Food and Agriculture Organ-isation representative in Jamaica, Belize and Bahamas, Dr Dunstan Campbell, shares a similar view.

He adds, however, that agriculture is an area in which investors should look to put their money.

"Whether it is potatoes or cassava, it's an investment opportunity," says Campbell.

Food strategy

He says while the Government will need to import, it will also need to invest in carbohydrates as part of its food security strategy.

"It is going to be difficult in the short run, because the cost of input has gone up so it will be difficult for small farmers to produce more," says Campbell.

The FAO representative says incentives should be provided or sought by the Government to support small farmers.

Shirley says cheaper fertiliser, for example, should be sought. She suggests organic fertiliser could be a good alternative.