'The following is a response from the Ministry of Agriculture to an August 11 editorial.

The Editor, Sir:

In response to your editorial of Friday, August 11, 2006, the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands wishes to record our disappointment at the seeming scepticism which prevailed throughout the editorial, which appeared under the caption: 'Agriculture grows - but big vision needed'.

This apparent scepticism, under-scored by references to the 'rosy picture' painted by the minister in his announcement at the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show; the oblique cynicism in the statement: "there may be a degree of hyperbole in the figures announced by Minister Clarke." The public needs to know that this growth is real. Nor did it occur by chance.

MODERNISATION

With the bedrock of our rural agricultural economy under siege, from the upcoming removal of preferential tariffs on traditional sugar and banana exports, the ministry's focus has indeed been on the modernisation of production practices through:

"Targeted capital investments over the next four years, of more than $2 billion in irrigation systems to assist farmers to make the shift from rain-fed production - thereby enabling them to significantly increase their yields, while consistently supplying their markets; and

"The provision of extension services in collaboration with the FAO and IICA, to train farmers in the use of first-world tech-nologies and enhanced pest-management techniques to improve their productivity and competitiveness, to enable them to exploit the sector's natural linkages to the tourism supply chain, as well as the opportunities available in the commodities export market, where our coffee, cocoa and spices fetch premium prices.

Not only have we taken deliberate steps to boost these non-traditional industries with substantial injections of capital, but as part of our Agricultural Development Strategy, the ministry has identified seven high-yielding, competitive sub-sectors for priority funding to the tune of $200 million.

These include sheep and goat production; organic agriculture; protected cultivation, fruit tree crop production; ornamental fish develop-ment; apiculture; and ornamental horticulture.

Having identified these com-modities with the potential to contribute to the growth of the economy and to maximise the incomes of our farmers, we have also provided the necessary incentives to attract young people into the sector - that "new breed of farmer" of which your editorial speaks.

Lack of Vision?

In conclusion, your editorial chides: "Nor do we sense that there is a big vision that can be transmitted to a new breed of farmers who are beyond the cutlass and hoe".

We are indeed guilty of 'walking the walk' rather than 'talking the talk', in laying the foundation for positioning the agricultural sector to achieve growth in real terms.

In essence, our objective is to reverse the culture of subsistence and persistent poverty, which has become synonymous with the agricultural sector. And if we have been remiss in articulating this as our vision, it is because we believe that performance should precede announcement.

However, with the return of land and irrigation to the ministry's portfolio, we are in the process of formulating a comprehensive agri-cultural and rural development policy, which will clearly outline our 'big vision' for the future.

I am, etc.,

DONOVAN STANBERRY

Permanent Secretary