JAS wants Gov't to set it free

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

THE 115-YEAR-OLD Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) wants to cut it apron strings from Government and is, therefore, advocating a repeal of the act that incorporated the association as a statutory organisation.

"As a part of the important role that a farmers' organisation needs to play to achieve the transformation of the sector, we have to renew ourselves," JAS's first vice-president, Senator Norman Grant, explained at a Gleaner Editors' Forum hosted at the farm group's Church Street head office in Kingston.

Both Grant and JAS President Glendon Harris sought to defend the organisation's track record on contributing to the development of Jamaica. They argued that successive administrations have failed to lend the necessary support, with some politicians even using the association to further their agendas.

"The Government has benefited from the legacy of the JAS ... and, therefore, as a golden handshake, it should give us a sum and then retire us and we will proceed now to move into several projects to transform the agricultural sector," Grant demanded.

Ministry reluctant

As a statutory body, the JAS reports to the Ministry of Agriculture and must get approval from the Ministry of Finance that, over the years, it has been reluctant to give.

"We wrote to the minister in 2008 to say that we want to engage a strategic review to reposition the JAS. The JAS, notwithstanding $400 million worth of assets, cannot use those assets because we are seen as a statutory body," Grant disclosed.

"Even though we developed a plan for the central marketing system and got EXIM (Export-Import) Bank to approve a $100-million loan four years ago, we could not get the money because the Government had to sign a guarantee," said Grant, who blamed both the People's National Party and Jamaica Labour Party for not approving the scheme because it was considered an untenable liability.

Grant, the immediate past president, said he cut the JAS's deficit by nearly 30 per cent - from $70 million to $50 million - during his six-year reign which started in 2003. The society's asset base, during the Grant tenure, also grew from $175 million to $400 million and the annual Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show transformed into a $50-million event, from $6 million, the senator said.

These strides, achieved against great constraints are an indication, he said, that the JAS has taken decisive steps to reposition itself to meet the challenges of the future.

Meanwhile, Harris argued that while its independence has over the years been questioned, an objective review of its performance over the years will show that the JAS has been a force for good, especially in rural communities where it has a direct impact on the lives of farming families.

No glory

He charged that a number of its initiatives, such as the Eat Jamaican campaign and the development of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, came out of the JAS, which continues to be sidelined and not given the credit for work done.

"We have submitted several proposals and an example is the Eat Jamaican campaign that you now see the ministry jockeying to take over," said Harris.

"The praedial larceny programme was spearheaded by the JAS. We developed a central-marketing system and got to the stage where even funding was identified and to be confirmed, but the ministry says it is too big for the JAS and wants to roll with it. So each step of the way, we have that jealousy of the JAS; they don't want us to roll out, so our independence is being constantly trampled on," Harris charged.