Agriculture’s folly

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The local legend of the ‘folly’ tells of a mistake by a landowner, who mixed seawater with concrete to quickly construct his mansion. The house quickly deteriorated, which led to his bride exclaiming, “What a folly!”

Even though this is a legend, a similar folly has been unfolding in Jamaica’s agricultural sector for decades. The recent damage to the agricultural sector as a result of the heavy downpours, which impacted the country for several days, has been put at just under $2 billion.

The agriculture ministry has said that approximately 12,000 farmers were impacted, as flooding was reported in most parishes. Clarendon, St Elizabeth, Manchester, St Catherine, St Andrew and St Thomas were most affected.

This is a recurring story for this very critical industry. With the ongoing pandemic yet again on the rise worldwide, all countries must also pay urgent attention to food security. As such, the attention required to mitigate against floods takes on added significance.

No serious attention has been given to drainage improvement on agricultural lands in Jamaica for decades. Several billions of dollars have been spent by government ministries and foreign donor agencies over the years, with none even bothering to tackle drainage management in a comprehensive way.

Interestingly, the engineering fraternities in Jamaica are now calling for the implementation of a comprehensive drainage programme, with respect to infrastructure projects islandwide. While these are focused on roads, it is equally important to focus on agricultural communities as well.

Without such a plan, we will continue to see multibillion-dollar losses in Jamaica due to flooding. This can be significantly reduced with proper attention to geological concerns, and proper drainage engineering. With a new young minister who has embraced technology and planning, we hope for the best.

After all, a failure to plan means planning to fail. We cannot afford a folly in Jamaica’s agricultural sector.

HENRY DURBAN