Elizabeth Morgan | Agriculture: Is Jamaica accelerating towards CARICOM’s vision of ‘25 by 2025’?

In 2018, CARICOM leaders, including Jamaica’s, committed to reduce food imports by 25 per cent by 2025. This means prioritising food and nutrition security and increasing agricultural production in the region to build resilience. Food should be produced to meet domestic demand and for export within the region as well as externally. While looking at food security, exports also have to be a priority.

Goal 2 of the UN SDGs is to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture; and this is linked to Goal 17, which sees earnings from exports as a means of implementation. Guyana is the lead on agriculture. I have addressed food security and agricultural exports in previous articles.

CARICOM AGRICULTURE WEEK

This topic has been on my mind as CARICOM had its 17th Week of Agriculture in The Bahamas, October 9-13, under the theme ‘Accelerating Vision 25 x 2025’. I understand that there is to be a midterm review of achievements in 2024. Caribbean Export’s Caribbean Investment Forum was also held in The Bahamas in October and featured agriculture.

The host of the Agriculture Week, which included the meeting of the CARICOM ministers of agriculture, the Hon Jomo Campbell, minister of agriculture and marine resources of The Bahamas, recognised the challenges to be overcome in food production, including climate change. He stated that the week cultivates hope that the region, collectively, can and will overcome these obstacles. He believed that a common shared goal must be a sustainable strategy to empower farmers to grow more food in order to make real and steady progress to reduce imports by 25 per cent by 2025.

Minister Campbell also pointed out that Vision 25 by 2025 sets out a comprehensive road map for transforming Caribbean agriculture into a thriving, innovative and resilient industry. It envisions a future where regional food systems are not only able to withstand external shocks, but also contribute to economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability in CARICOM members. A key pillar is the promotion of sustainable farming practices.

During the week, two Jamaicans received regional agricultural awards for innovation in agriculture. Peter McConnell, managing director of Trade Winds Citrus Limited, received the CARICOM Farmer of the Year Award, and Diandra Rowe was selected as the CARICOM Young Farmer of the Year.

JAMAICA AND 25 BY 2025

Agriculture was also on my mind from shopping in the supermarkets, with my neighbourhood produce vendors, and from driving through rural areas where agricultural production seemed sparse. The impact of climate change has been felt this year in Jamaica with the prolonged drought and unusually high summer temperatures.

Water shortage was not just in Kingston and St Andrew, but in main agricultural areas. Thus, production has suffered, resulting in, for example, a package with two withered-looking iceberg or romaine lettuce costing $600; a pound of yam about $500; and a water coconut J$300. It is also difficult to find local fruits, including bananas. Now that the island is having rains, production may increase and prices will fall.

I have heard our Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green speaking to the Government’s plans for recrafting the agriculture sector, focusing on strategic pillars, such as food security, agri-business development, and climate-smart technologies. He is also promoting backyard gardens.

Jamaica has a big food import bill to reduce by 2025. In 2021, it was said to be US$1.12 billion. CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary General of Economic Integration, Innovation and Development, Joseph Cox, providing an update on the implementation of 25 by 2025 in several CARICOM countries, on October 20, reported that Jamaica had achieved a 17 per cent growth in agriculture in 2022.

However, 2023, so far, has been a difficult year. In addition to further increase local food production, Jamaica has some major, longstanding challenges still to overcome. These include:

1. Praedial larceny - We know that not even backyard gardens are safe from these thieves. Many of us can recount tales of missing fruits, vegetables, and chickens. These days the theft of crops and livestock has been ramped up; thieves are heavily armed. Farmers have been killed. This is a great disincentive to investment in agriculture, whether backyard, small plot or large farm.

Theft is also a problem in aquaculture. Fish farming has been discontinued as fish ponds have been raided. I was once told that a farmer in Jamaica has to factor into cost of production his losing to theft at least 10 per cent of the output. So, praedial larceny remains a major challenge for the agriculture and fisheries sector, and the security forces.

2. Irrigation – Farmers in Jamaica are largely still relying on rainfall, which now has shifting patterns due to climate change. In a parish such as St Elizabeth, there needs to be improved irrigation systems giving farmers access to water year-round and, particularly, in drier areas and with prolonged droughts.

3. Diseases – Detection, treatment and management of diseases seem to be a major problem. We know of diseases which have affected bananas, and lethal yellowing in coconuts, and action taken. Now it seems that the citrus crops have been severely depleted by diseases and are not likely to recover to levels known in former decades.

Ginger, I discovered from research undertaken some years ago, had practically died. Cocoa is on life support, it seems, due to disease and poor management.

4. Land use – Are cane lands being used for agriculture or housing? This seems to be another major issue. The idea was that cane lands would be used to cultivate other crops.

With these challenges, when the mid term review is conducted in 2024, I am not convinced that Jamaica will be among those countries actually accelerating towards meeting this target of a 25 per cent reduction in its food import bill by 2025.

I am wishing that we could be, thus realising the dream of supplying quality agricultural products to the domestic market, including the tourism industry, and increasing exports not only within CARICOM, but also to the USA and Canada.

Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.