Breathing life into dairy, rice industry

The following are excerpts from the sectoral presentation in Parliament yesterday by agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.

The emasculation of the dairy industry through misguided trade policy is well documented. Suffice it to say that milk production fell from some 38.8 million litres in 1992 to about 14 million litres currently, resulting in an attrition of over 500 farmers from the industry.

Milk constitutes a critical element of the nation's nutrition, and any nation serious about food and nutrition security must put appropriate measures in place to safeguard its dairy industry. I suspect that these were the considerations that informed the initiative of the previous government to promulgate a dairy development act. Mr Speaker, I am proud to remind this Honourable House, that after nine years of languishing, this house passed the Dairy Development Act in 2009.

This act provides the framework for the development of the dairy sector. Subsequent to the passage of the act, the ministry established the Jamaica Dairy Development Board to oversee the development of the sector. In the last financial year, we provided some $35 million in low-interest loans for pasture resuscitation and procurement of stock. This has supported the rehabilitation of some 184 hectares of pasture.

The ministry is also in the middle of divesting the Wallens and Goshen dairy facilities to allow for private capital. In order to support the development of the sector, and after consultations with industry players, Cabinet approved the imposition of a cess on all dairy products at the level of one per cent. This will generate some $64 million in this financial year and will be used for capacity building within the sector.

RICE PRODUCTION

As is well known, rice constitutes one of the major staples consumed by Jamaica. On average, this country consumes some 100,000 tonnes of rice per annum. It will be recalled that during the peak of the recent world food crisis we became very vulnerable when, in response to a decline in world production of rice, the price of rice peaked at US$1,100 per tonne in 2008.

The response of major exporting countries, such as India, was to impose export bans. Even our supply from our CARICOM neighbour became uncertain. It will be recalled that in 1984, our production of rice in Jamaica went up to 5,364 tonnes.

The food security crisis, therefore, forced the government to re-evaluate its policy in relation to rice production, and restructure this industry for growth. Obviously, we had to start at the research and development level to test some nine varieties at Bodles to ascertain the varieties most suitable for our environment, in terms of yields and adaptability. Our experiments showed that the Prosequisa 4 variety was most suitable, and on this basis, the ministry partnered with the Jamaica Broilers Group to conduct a commercial experiment involving some 25 acres of this variety.

This experiment was used to establish economic production parameters and optimal agronomic practices under our conditions. This experiment was a resounding success, giving yields of 5.5 tonnes per hectare, better than what obtains in our Caribbean neighbours.

Constraining factors

Rice is essentially a small farmer-based activity the world over. The major constraining factors, therefore, to the development of a rice industry in Jamaica are access to drying facilities, harvesting equipment, and strong technical support. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has moved decisively to address all these concerns.

Meanwhile, the ministry has further secured from the Chinese government two combined harvesters, machinery for drying, four tractors and two generators, valuing $48 million, and which are now available to farmers.

The intent of the government is to replace, in the medium term, at least 25 per cent of Jamaica's rice import, with a potential foreign-exchange savings of US$15 million. This will require the establishment of 5,000 hectares. Moving from the current 12 farmers, within this financial year, we hope to establish at least 2,000 hectares.

The ministry has been actively mobilising investors towards this end. I have the pleasure to report that in my recent trip to China, discussions were held with a large Chinese company and the Chinese government on continuous support, and possibly Chinese investment in Jamaica's rice industry.