GROWING THE JAMAICAN ECONOMY: AGRICULTURE

ID: Interactive Dialogue

IN a recent exchange with an acquaintance via Twitter concerning ways
to grow the Jamaican economy, this web-savvy person was extremely
dismissive of agriculture and went as far as to say that agriculture
in Jamaica should only be for producing food for local consumption
and we should focus on ICT.

Unfortunately, there are many Jamaicans who refuse to research or
acknowledge areas in agriculture where we do in fact have a
competitive advantage or could discover such advantages. Many of us
also do not pay attention to the number of jobs created by the
agriculture industry.

How many Jamaicans know that the Government built a packaging house
in St Elizabeth to benefit some 500 farmers that was leased by
GraceKennedy? This kind of public-private partnership is exactly the way to go.

Yes, sugar cane farming left the Government with a tremendous amount
of debt, and the banana industry cannot seem to produce the crop at a
competitive price. However, citing those two examples does not mean
that agriculture for export is not viable in Jamaica. I am going to
focus specifically on crops and not the other agriculture areas such
as cattle and fish farming.

Few Jamaicans seem to know that Jamaican ginger is 6-8 times more
potent than Chinese ginger and sells for as much as seven times more.
This was recently disclosed by the Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries based on research by the Scientific Research Council. Japan
has also agreed to purchase all the ginger that Jamaica can produce.
Our Scotch bonnet pepper is one of the hottest in the world and is
also in high demand.

These are two crops that are being promoted to farmers that I agree
with and I am happy that the Government, in the Medium Term
Socio-Economic Policy Framework 2009-2012, recognised that economic
growth could come from "expanding agricultural production higher up
the value chain" instead of merely producing and exporting the
basics. An example would be choosing to export cheese spread and
yogurt instead of milk.

Can we compete?

When I attended Denbigh this year, I came across an interesting
display that said "Poor Dirt = Dirt Poor" and focused on poor soil
management practices. The point was driven home with photo
comparisons between fields in California and Jamaica featuring
tomatoes, melons, onions and orange trees. The California farms yield
more from the same area, not because of different irrigation or
fertiliser practices, but because of inadequate soil conservation
techniques in Jamaica.

I do believe that we have other crops that can boost exports as well,
some of which have not been contemplated to my knowledge. In 2008, I
was astonished when I visited Walt Disney World's Epcot in Orlando
with my wife and heard them talking about the reasons why Jackfruit
was so good during the Spaceship Earth ride. There were at least four
crops that were mentioned that I knew from Jamaica!

I was pleased to have attended a Jamaica Exporters' Association event
on organic crops a few years ago, because Jamaica should be taking
advantage of this market, especially in the USA and Europe. A robust
organic education and certification programme, no doubt, would
increase our share of that market, but as long as our soil practices
are poor, we will never compete with California because their
productivity is higher for the same plot of land and they will be the
ones selling the most to companies like Whole Foods.

The challenges faced by the agriculture sector in Jamaica are known
and some people will say that we cannot compete with large farms in
countries like the USA and Brazil. It is true that some 77 per cent
of the total number of agricultural holdings is made up of small
farmers with two hectares or less, but we do not have to grow the
same crops as large farms. Like Brazil, though, we must focus on
global crops, not just crops for the local market.

Lesson from Canada?

There is one specific crop that I believe Jamaica would have a
distinct advantage in growing. Canada has been growing this crop
since 1998 to supply both a domestic and an international market.
Most of the market is in the USA; it is generating as much as US$40
million per year; can be grown chemical-free; and it is a
fast-growing crop. The seeds of this crop are used to produce healthy
foods, nutraceuticals and bodycare products, while the stalk is used
for fibre products such as paper and building materials.

This crop is none other than hemp.

Many people mistake hemp for its distant cousin, marijuana, because
they are both members of the Cannabis family, which has over 500
varieties. However, hemp has less than one per cent of the primary
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana -- THC -- so it is unsuitable as
a drug or for therapeutic use.

Canada has predominantly focused on industrial hemp seed production,
which I believe can also be accomplished in Jamaica based on a number
of factors. We are close to the largest market, the USA; have a
better year-round climate; obviously have an ideal climate for the
cultivation of the Cannabis family of plants, judging from the
illegal exports of marijuana; and clearly we have farmers with
knowledge of how to grow plants in the Cannabis family.

Fostering a local hemp industry based on the one in Canada could give
those farmers growing marijuana a way to use their land and knowledge
for a legal crop instead. With research and the right positioning,
Jamaica could possibly also develop a reputation for its hemp similar
to the reputation our ganja has developed globally. This time,
though, Jamaicans everywhere could be proud of the reputation.

Unlike the problems we would face with the USA if we tried to
legalise marijuana and export it for the "medical" market (the USA
Federal Government still recognises it as a controlled substance and
therefore would not allow importation), hemp production and export
are already happening, and Canada is reaping the benefits. Jamaica
should take a look and figure out if such an industry is feasible.

Next week I will follow up with a focus on farming in relation to
biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry.

- -- David Mullings is the Future Leaders Representative for the USA on
the Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board. He is co-founder of Random
Media and Kaizen Interactive and has an MBA with concentrations on
International Business and Marketing.

He is on Twitter at twitter.com/davidmullings and Facebook at
facebook.com/InteractiveDialogue