Agri ministry's initiatives yield forex savings
Published: Wednesday | August 19, 2009
Critical among these strategies are the Urban Backyard Garden initiative which, according to a survey conducted by the University of the West Indies in Kingston, St Catherine and St Andrew in May 2009, showed that 70 per cent of the respondents were actively involved in producing some of the staples, particularly fruits and vegetables, which they currently consume.
INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
Coupled with this initiative was the implementation of the ministry's Production and Productivity Enhancement Programme. This programme, which has been in place for approximately a year, has fast-tracked the building of production capacity and increased productivity levels, while engaging end users in the tourism, agro-processing and retail industries, as well as potential importers in purchasing locally grown produce.
Data released from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica support the fact that Jamaican consumers have begun to eat more locally grown foods in the last year - given that the volume of food imported in 2007 was recorded at 1,311 million kilograms, as against the 939 million kilograms imported in 2008.
The cost of these imports rose from US$730.6 million in 2007 to US$886.3 million in 2008. This food import bill represented 10.4 per cent of total imports for 2008, and reflected a 21.3 per cent increase in value over 2007. Nevertheless, total food volume actually declined by 28.3 per cent, which is a strong indicator of the quantum of food price increases in 2008.
INCREASE EFFICIENCY
This decline in food imports, Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton noted, "is also an indicator of the effect of the Backyard Garden initiative, the increase in the productivity and the quality of agricultural crops due to targeted farmer training in best practices and, most importantly, the increase in the efficiency of our marketing system, which is now giving critical support to primary production in the field and linking producers to end users".
In addition, Tufton pointed out that the productivity increases had helped to enhance farmers' competitiveness by bringing prices more in line with imported food items, which had in turn fuelled the process of import substitution.
An examination of the table below, which compares the volume of imports of a group of select commodities, shows that the approximate savings calculated on an individual basis for each group would have totalled US$276 million, were the same volume of commodities imported in 2008 as in 2007.
Comparative Volume of Imports of select sensitive products 2007/2008
| 2007kg | 2008kg | % change | |
Potatoes | 18,819,319 | 17,062,390 | -9% |
| Carrots | 319,840 | 66,352 | -79% |
| Onions | 8,449,327 | 8,627,533 | 2% |
| Tomatoes | 480,357 | 312,104 | -35% |
| Cabbage | 96,409 | 72,618 | -25% |
| Lettuce | 327,410 | 341,936 | 4% |
| Sweet Pepper | 339,327 | 261,793 | -23% |
| Meats | 58,216,731 | 55,890,443 | -4% |
| Dairy products | 20,295,361 | 14,727,479 | -27% |
| Wheat | 163,252,453 | 179,598,598 | 10% |
| Rice | 99,615,932 | 95,804,300 | -4% |
| Corn | 551,510,278 | 113,067,746 | -79% |
| Flour | 6,469,215 | 5,052,681 | -22% |
Source: Statistical Institute of Jamaica. Comparative Volume of Imports of select sensitive products 2007/2008 | 2007kg | 2008kg | % change |
Potatoes | 18,819,319 | 17,062,390 | -9% |
| Carrots | 319,840 | 66,352 | -79% |
| Onions | 8,449,327 | 8,627,533 | 2% |
| Tomatoes | 480,357 | 312,104 | -35% |
| Cabbage | 96,409 | 72,618 | -25% |
| Lettuce | 327,410 | 341,936 | 4% |
| Sweet Pepper | 339,327 | 261,793 | -23% |
| Meats | 58,216,731 | 55,890,443 | -4% |
| Dairy products | 20,295,361 | 14,727,479 | -27% |
| Wheat | 163,252,453 | 179,598,598 | 10% |
| Rice | 99,615,932 | 95,804,300 | -4% |
| Corn | 551,510,278 | 113,067,746 | -79% |
| Flour | 6,469,215 | 5,052,681 | -22% |
Source: Statistical Institute of Jamaica.
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