Editorial | Hobby farming is not going to cut it

Here we go again! It didn’t take long for the newly appointed minister of agriculture to announce a plant-growing initiative. It is what ministers of agriculture do.

Minister Floyd Green recently announced a $10-million project to provide agricultural kits to encourage persons to engage in backyard gardening.

This is what he said: “We will be looking to impact 2,500 households across Jamaica, and we believe that this will help not only with food security, but also with appreciating why it is critical to eat Jamaican.”

It is not a lot of money, we concede, but one gets the feeling that we are doing the same old thing in virtually the same old way, and it is lamentable. This programme has a familiar ring to it.

We well remember similar programmes in 2008 and 2011. Then Agriculture Minister Dr Chris Tufton announced in 2011 the establishment of 18 demonstration sites in St Andrew, St Catherine, St Ann, Manchester, Westmoreland, and St James.

He said beneficiaries would receive 2,500 do-it-yourself (DIY) backyard gardening kits, which included planting materials, tools, and planting aids. Some 50 backyard gardeners were to receive certification and then train other interested householders in the various techniques of backyard gardening.

Another Backyard Project

So what happened? There has been no follow-up and no audit. Frankly, no accountability when J$15 million was spent. And here is Minister Green unveiling another backyard project.

Talk about agriculture’s potential to be the most successful industry has been touted by every administration since Independence in 1962. Yet Jamaica continues to be a net food-importing country. Take onions, for instance. Jamaica imports 10 million kilograms of onions annually, which is about 85% per cent of demand. What happens if our import sources suddenly dry up?

CONCENTRATE ENERGIES ON AGRICULTURE

Hobby farming is commendable, but we don’t think the Government’s efforts should be spent on this activity, particularly when it has been tried before without great results. The Government needs to concentrate its energies on providing the requisite incentives to create a modern agriculture sector, driven by technology and well financed, if we hope to achieve the 70 per cent food sufficiency that has eluded us for too long.

The sector has to produce while being mindful of the need to build climate resilience to avert some of the likely extreme impacts from natural disasters such as floods and drought, which are forecast to continue for at least 30 years.

We need urgent, practical action to improve national food security so that we are in a good position to respond to extreme weather conditions over the next few years as well as the current pandemic.

We don’t mean to dampen Mr Green’s enthusiasm. We like the fact that he is encouraging the youth to get involved in agriculture. He would be aware that research has identified their expectations to include access to arable land, funding, technical know-how, and market assistance.

He has been responsive to farmers’ needs in the aftermath of crop damage because of the recent rains, and he has been nimble in identifying priority areas such as resuscitating research at Bodles, St Catherine, to cementing private-public partnerships in agriculture.

One other thing, though, Minister. Every failure to achieve goals and arrive at targets saps the interest, energy, goodwill, and sense of purpose on which such initiatives hang. We cannot build a safe, agriculture sector and food system on hobby farming.