By Dennise Williams, Staff ReporterJAMAICAN AGRICULTURE appears to be on the rebound. Figures released by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) on November 14 reveals that the first three quarters of 2003 performed better than the corresponding quarters of 2002.
For the period January to September 2003 Agriculture grew by 4 per cent.
For the 3rd quarter of 2003, the agriculture sector grew by 5.6 per cent. This was supported by domestic crop production increasing by 25.2 per cent and livestock production increasing by 1.8 per cent. The sector recovered from the islandwide flooding that occurred during the June and September 2002 period.
However, export crop production did decline by 0.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2003 compared to 2002.
Speaking with players in the agriculture industry, it was revealed that things are looking bright for the industry due to better weather, Government intervention and tourism.
Vitus Evans, the managing director of the Jamaican Agricultural Development Foundation stated, "For our side, we are experiencing more growth in 2003. We focus on two products: cotton, which we export and shrimp which is sold locally. In 2002 our cotton crop export was terrible. Because of the flood rains, we only exported £60,000 and only earned US$600,000. But this year is looking much better.
"Barring disaster, we are looking to export 180,000 pounds and earn US$1.8 million. As for shrimp, we have dramatically increased our production. In 2002, we harvested 70 ponds with 6,000 kilos of shrimp per pond. So far in 2003, we have doubled those figures." Evans informed the Financial Gleaner that the shrimp is sold for J$2,000 per 5 pound package. For the future, Evans does see major improvement in the sector. "Even the sugar industry will be diversifying sugar lands into cotton and vegetable production. I think the greater push for mechanism will create efficiency. Yes, there will be job displacement but in order to increase production, there is no choice but to use machines."
However, Evans sees that an expanded agricultural sector will mop up some of the jobs lost to machines. Said Evans, "When workers are displaced in any sub-sector of agriculture, they can be retrained and retooled for new positions, such as cotton. We will still need manual labour because the buyers insist on hand-picked cotton to retain the integrity of the crop."
At the Ministry of Agriculture, we were informed that better weather in 2003 had given farmers a break. Additionally, to combat the devastation that occurred during the flood rains the Ministry provided planting and fertilisers, to "encourage farmers to replant." But according to our source at the Ministry, "we still are not at the height that agriculture once was at. The PIOJ numbers show that we are merely recovering." Additionally, our contact stated, "Let's face it. Tourism arrivals have helped the industry. Tourists need to eat and the more tourist that come to Jamaica the more food is needed."
