Dear Editor,
Despite the ravaging of the bread basket parishes during the recent passage of Hurricane Beryl, everybody must eat and farmers, despite the challenges of weather system, must rebound and produce.
Over the next few weeks, there is likely to be a glut on the market with the washed up, forced ripe produce that Beryl reaped, but after that, real hardships are likely to set in.
Farming is a much-needed yet deeply underrated industry. Young people shy away from it. Higglers abuse the the system by purchasing produce at farm gate at ridiculously low prices and retail these same products at high costs, while the true producers live on little and way beneath the poverty line.
The cost of inputs such as seeds and fertilisers have seen sharp increases in recent times. More and more it is becoming harder for small farmers to continue to produce and compete against imports and weather systems.
The national import bill in developing countries such as Jamaica is very high and growing.
Some 90 % of the red peas we consume each day is imported, although rice and peas is a Jamaican staple consumed every day.We import a huge quantity of chicken meat and other meats, despite the fact that much of this can be produced locally.
Our farmers compete with larger farmers in the United States and other countries where these producers are subsidised by their governments. We import the basic ingredients of production, the seeds and the fertilizer. Food security for the current and future generations must be a concern for all governments.
The World Trade Organisation and other global agencies such as the Word Economic Forum are pushing for centralised control of food. There is also a rush by big agricultural interests to purchase arable lands in developing countries, shutting out small farmers from the industry.
These are clear signals of a time to come when there could be hardships, food shortage and hunger across the globe.
While famine may be familiar in some countries that have survived on very little for long spells, it is quite an unusual phenomenon for many others.
Small farmers in developing countries need the support of their governments and communities in order stay in production and to produce adequate food quantities.
This is a call for farmers to bond together, make representation to governments for subsidies and other assistance. Find ways to work together to market your produce so that you can earn enough to expand your production now. This is urgent, act now.
I am,
Small farmer (St Ann)