Lucea Cocoa Fermentary up for sale
Published:Saturday | March 1, 2014 | 12:00 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
Cocoa Industry Board-owned lands located in Lucea have been offered for divestment by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) after more than two decades of inoperation, but at least one major stakeholder is still disappointed that the move has come after so many years.
On Sunday, the DBJ advertised that it was seeking "investors with the financial capacity to purchase the commercial assets of the Cocoa Industry Board" (CIB) and to undertake their development, operations, and management. The assets up for divestment include fermentaries in Richmond, St Mary; Morgans Valley, Clarendon; Montrose Farm, a cocoa farm also located in Richmond, St Mary; processing equipment at Marcus Garvey Drive, Kingston; and 13.7 acres of land with buildings at the Haughton Court in Lucea, Hanover.
Waste of resources
On Tuesday, Vice-president of the Clifton/Mt Peace Farmers' Group, Ray Kerr, criticised the Cocoa Industry Board for failing to fulfill its mandate, resulting in the closure of the Haughton Industrial estate-based fermentary more than two decades ago. He said this resulted in a waste of resources, which saw Hanover's farmers withdrawing from cocoa production also losing out on their investment in cocoa cultivation.
"It is an indictment on successive governments and the Cocoa Board because it is Government who appoints these members to the board," Kerr told Western Focus on Tuesday. "Hanover is a prime cocoa-growing area, and over the years, farmers have neglected their trees so much. Right now, many farmers have cut down their trees because the economic value is not there and most of the cocoa grown is going to waste.
"So I am saying, these governments really have a Third World mindset, you know. In terms of the whole 2030 Development Plan, we are not going to be able to achieve that if we have these leaders with this Third World mindset who always take so much time and bureauracy to get things done. So we will always be playing catch-up - just like the ganja issue in which we should be leading the way, but are now playing catch-up to America," he added.
High demand
Despite Kerr's disappointment with the statutory body, he said there could be a renewal of Hanover's cocoa industry if a dedicated investor were to acquire the property.
"The cocoa product on the world market is in high demand and we have some of the best-suited land, especially in Hanover here, to grow it, and we see no emphasis, no really sustainable plan or programme to get this thing going. The selling of the assets is a good move, but what we require is persons with the vision to really invest in this industry and get things moving forward," he said.
"Lands in the hills of Hanover are best suited for cocoa farming because cocoa requires the landscape in terms of the elevation, in terms of the annual rainfall that these areas get, and cocoa requires shade in terms of growing, so it requires other trees to provide shade. The two river valleys - Lucea East and Lucea West river valleys - is where the
best-quality cocoa comes from in the country," Kerr said.
The Cocoa Industry Board operates under the Cocoa Industry Board Act of 1957. The board is governed by a seven-member board of directors appointed by the minister of agriculture. Jamaica, through the Cocoa Industry Board, is a member of the International Cocoa Organization, which recognises 17 countries as producers of fine or flavoured cocoa, with Jamaica being recognised as one of eight exclusive producers of fine or flavoured cocoa.
The Cocoa Industry Board is the sole marketing agent for Jamaican cocoa. Its mandate includes promotion of the growing of cocoa among farmers, providing technical support, purchasing and processing wet cocoa beans, and selling dried fermented beans.
A significant portion of the cocoa processed is exported mainly to Europe, Japan, and the United States. Data from the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers' Association show that "over the last 18 years, annual production levels of cocoa in Jamaica have fallen from 2,522 tons in 1992 to approximately 440 tons in 2008".