Campbell calls for agricultural development fund

WESTERN BUREAU:

Dr Dayton Campbell, the Opposition spokesman on agriculture, says that if elected to government, the People’s National Party (PNP) will be putting in place an agricultural development fund to mirror the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), to assist in financing improvements needed in the agricultural sector.

Addressing a community meeting involving farmers in Western Hanover, held at the Esher Primary School in that parish, Campbell announced a number of programmes that his party plans to implement, if elected into government at the next general election due later this year.

“Agriculture can be big business and it is what we need to use as a country, to take people out of poverty,” he argued.

He said that there are several issues that need to be resolved within the agricultural sector, in order to make agriculture into a priority area, and to generate interest among the varying age groups in the sector.

Among the issues he outlined are: access to land, access to funding for farming, needed improvements in storage capabilities, access to mechanisation and technology, access to markets, reduction in importations and more targeted research, among others.

He said that a PNP government will be asking for an inventory of all the arable lands in the different parishes. This he said is with the view to dividing the idle lands into five-acre leaseholds, to be made available to persons interested in farming, for the lands to be put into production.

“Under the next PNP Government, no arable land will be used for housing. Arable lands will be used for agriculture,” he emphasised.

Campbell noted that the lower lying arable lands, some of which are now being used for housing projects, are better suited for mechanised farming.

Turning his attention to production cost of farming, Campbell argued that most small farmers are in need of start-up funding, which is difficult to access.

“So what we are saying is this, that the next PNP government is going to put in place what we call an Agricultural Development Fund,” he stated.

He referenced other dedicated funds in place in other sectors of the society, such as the National Health Fund (NHF), Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), and the Universal Service Fund (USF).

“It is time now for us to have a fund in place for the farmers, the Agricultural Development Fund (ADF),” he emphasised.

He said that monies for the proposed ADF can be derived from tariffs imposed on food imports.

“It (the food imports tariff) currently adds up every year to US$707 million that the Government of Jamaica collects in taxes. We are saying that we are going to use just 2.5 per cent of that, and we are going to put that into a dedicated fund to deal with farmers and farming,” he said.

He suggested that a percentage of that dedicated fund be put within the People’s Cooperative Banking system, to allow for low interest loans for farming projects.

“So we are going to make the funding available to you through the Government’s resources,” he told the farmers to loud applause.

Campbell appealed for the farmers to adopt technological techniques now available, with a view to improving their production levels. He insisted that under a PNP government only farmers will have access to import licences for agricultural products.