Use agriculture to mobilise JEEP — Val Wint

BY ALICIA SUTHERLAND Observer staff reporter

Monday, February 20, 2012

MANDEVILLE, Manchester-People’s National Party (PNP) North East Manchester caretaker Valenton (Val) Wint believes that going the route of co-operatives is an effective way of boosting agriculture and helping to activate the much-touted Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP).

Wint told farmers at the annual general meeting of the Christiana Potato Growers’ Association in Manchester on Thursday that the Government should be lobbied in order that all Jamaicans can make a contribution to help in the development of agriculture similar to how people make payments to the National Housing Trust (NHT).

“We see the world is now looking at food security. If we are very serious about it we would love to lobby the Government that all Jamaicans make a national contribution the same way we make a contribution to Housing Trust,” Wint said.

“You make a one per cent or half per cent contribution to the sustainability of farming in this country. The fact is the money would go a far way in providing cheaper loans for you. I don’t know if you know that Housing Trust is one of the richest industries in Jamaica … rich because it is a national endeavour,” he said.

Wint said that agriculture is one of the most competitive industries in the world and if Jamaica loses out on farming, the Jamaican people will “die of starvation”.

However, he said that there are areas in the agriculture industry which need to be addressed in order for “career” farmers to benefit adequately from the resources that are made available to them.

Wint said that the formation of co-operatives prevent persons doing farming as “sidelines”, from benefiting more from government support than the ones who do it as their main source of qualifying the traditional income.

“We really want the assistance the assistance Government to realise that doesn’t go in the wrong they must find a way of direction,” he said.

He said that as much as the persons who do farming on a part-time basis help to reduce the need for imported goods and foreign exchange, “we can’t create an industry that kills the market that takes it as its livelihood”.

Wint said that co-operatives can help the benefits gained from agriculture to be more evenly distributed among persons with varying degrees of skills and resources.

“We want to go back to the kind of co-operatives where all stakeholders benefit in one way or the other. You have some young boys now who are very energetic but they have no land, they have no money, they have no seeds. We want to go back to the days when you can employ them, pay them a small sum to work but they become a part of your co-operative.

“When the crop comes in they are getting their equal share. Some will be contributing labour, some may be contributing the seed and those with the wherewithal, the land, and some... the money. This is something that can work. I look at this as one way of mobilising the JEEP that we talk about. Those of you who have the resources can really pull together those unemployed youngsters. If you can bring them to a cooperative that they trust, then you can find employment for them,” he said.

Wint said that with the collective effort of persons in the agriculture industry and the assistance of government to facilitate affordable money and moratorium on loans farmers will be able to move towards other industries which will enable them to get maximum value from what is produced.

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COMMENTS (23)

Sean H.
2/20/2012

Why is there discussion NOW many months after the PNP announced JEEP. Good osh man, this man is a PNP member and even he does not seem au fait with how JEEP is supposed to work!!
This JEEP seems as much a mystery (disappointment ?) to this member of the PNP as it is to the populace.

ras london
2/20/2012

People, the problem is not the lack of farming. Many of us are still farming to the point where we have a glut in the industry. The problem is that the govt is importing the very things that we are trying to sell and secondly, we have no roads to transport our produce. As one blogger stated earlier " how can a banana producing country be importing bananas?"

Blindmice Blindmice
2/20/2012

@Luv-Q Human being learn primarily from sight, hearing and feelings in other words; our common sense. Jamaica’s political quagmire over 50 yrs; can be concluded that voters haven’t learn and will never do so. Politics in all democratic country is about choice; the choice people make; choosing their politicians. Politics is the most influential thing in everyone life; because whether you are asleep or awake politics is either Working for you or Against you. We have made more bad choices than good

norris Richards
2/20/2012

Oh my! Jamaica’s confused politicians. Coop farming is a throwback to the communism era, coop farming did not work and it will never work, because working in a coop environment labor is not equal the Cubans are getting rid of their coop-farming. Jamaica is spinning its wheel and going backward. This is happening because most of the people are under educated.

J J
2/20/2012

Too many cooks in the JEEP get it started already or park it. Is Mr Wint suggesting that the farmers contribute financialy to JEEP?? RADA has been doing a good job in getting farmers to come together and for cooperatives and see it as a business however there are those who are still resisting they do not even attend the vaious farming workshops RADA host and do not welcome the RADA field Officers, then they cry about not making any monet etc. & many young people see faming has a NO No

RED ANTS
2/20/2012

@Luv Quest...You can send Clovis to Central Manchester...Bet he too would resign as fast as he went down their...DWL

Luv Quest
2/20/2012

@Blindmice.....you are talking about doing the same thing with the same people over and over and expect a different result? Mr. Clarke (correction) was not put there to make a difference; he was put there to fill the gap. Quite a few ministries are filled that way. Let's just wing it and hope for a miracle or the JEEP.

Tony Carruthers
2/20/2012

Val you are preaching to the choir here! The cooperative route was tried with relative success in the 70's with the pioneer farms.However after 82 election they were strategically removed from our landscape totally! As someone who has worked in the cooperative/non-profit field for over 30 years I have no doubt about the positive impact that cooperatives can have on our development. Just take a look at Israel and see how they sustained themselves over the years.Eliminate politics from the process

Luv Quest
2/20/2012

Roger Clark; what steps are you willing to take to prevent imported goods from stifling the farmers’ earning potential? We have exhausted a lot of time on trials and errors; have we learned anything? @Clovis…..the most brilliant cartoonist in the Caribbean…your genius has given us lots of laughter. Clovis for PM…..you are more aware than the people who mislead and lead from behind.

Tajai Grant
2/20/2012

Good Idea, but no more taxes pls.

Blindmice Blindmice
2/20/2012

Mr. Clarke, is doing his best; he is now the minister and was so; for 13 years under the previous PNP administration. Can anyone think of one positive development/advancement the goodly gentleman has made in the agriculture sector during his tenure ?. And I am not talking about handout or give-away; sustainable development policy for the sector and country. JEEP is; and will remain to be a phantom.

Nejeeper KNG
2/20/2012

Roger Clark to the farmers….."While we are forced to import other commodities such as vegetables, you have been able to satisfy much more than a half of the demand for fresh Irish potato in 2010 and 2011 from local production. You have allowed us to decrease our import bill for Irish potato from US$ 4 million in 2008 to US$2.6 million 2010.”…. The new government in place in Barbados since January 2008 has begun to give new life to agriculture. The objective is food security. Cont……

Nejeeper KNG
2/20/2012

……..The money that we are spending on imported commodities like vegetables and Irish potato is money that could be spent and circulate locally. This would create employment and boost the economy. With a multimillion dollar food import bill that keeps spiraling, Barbados is placing more emphasis these days on agriculture. The primary objective is to grow more of what it consumes. Let’s learn from our neighbors; it is OK to adopt principles that work. @N Henry JEEP is also a Fire engine. DWL :)

Real Estate
2/20/2012

"similar to NHT" I hope the similarity goes no deeper than that. Collecting money from people with no specific future financial benefit is not good; many cannot finish the trust houses & the trust offers no further help that I know of; if I am wrong I apologize & take back my words.
As an alternative I would suggest the govt. put it into the budget & collect it in the form of property taxes; create a processing offices & help them to find work on the farms with benefits & decent pay.

christopher Isaacs
2/20/2012

The banana domestic market has proved more profitable to banana farmers as against the export market. Their is an inherent problem with the export market, it somehow depresses prices and put farmers at a disadvantage. When the authorities would have fixed this problem, agriculture would be on its way. Undoubtedly Jamaican agri products are the best and our farmers would find it very challenging in consistently supplying even small percentage of the jamaican diaspora in New York.

christopher Isaacs
2/20/2012

We've heard this call from time immemorial, however it has been just simply talk. Right close to Mr Wint in Brontie Christiana, yam farmers (men and women) after having toiled expensively can now only realize 30 or 40 J$/ib for their yams, whilst that same yam exported to US sells for the equivalent of $250J. It simply is a no win situation for JA agri products. On one hand farmers get little or nothing for their work, whilst it is unaffordable in the US. Why?!!

RED ANTS
2/20/2012

I support you Val,I believe their are space in the Agriculture sector where small business can be establish for job creation but as you stated proper direction must be taken because some people only want to get the money in their hands to do some foolishness with it.As i said before marketing will be a important factor because we really want to target the importation bill.I wouldn't want to see the farmers food, livestock or poultry going to waste without them making a livelihood.

Chris W
2/20/2012

his is what is lacking in Jamaica today, thinking a little outside the box. A number of farmers need to learn the business side of farming, they need access to funding and sustainability practices.
A blueprint of our next 50 years must be developed around farming, technology and alternative energy sources.
Great going Val, let the conversation begin.
Toronto

larry smith
2/20/2012

are you kidding me,so why dont we have all the politician farming. this would be a great incentive to jump-start this economy.it would be a good example. to see atleast 75% of our leaders in agriculture.most of the youths, are not motivated by plowing up and getting dirty.so, if we are really serious about feeding jamaica,let us start with the prime minister and her ministers.Andrew holness, and his ministers as well. if you want to get people to farm ,you have to motivate them by example...

Justin Wright
2/20/2012

We have been saying this for a long long time, and the sad fact is people have refused to see the truth about sustainability of farming and the protection it offers to the people as a whole. Small as Jamaica is the sugar and banana industries have made the Queen of England very rich, the corn industry have made the US prosper, and yet the influence of the USA get rich quick scheme have dominated our youths minds turning them away from self help projects that can make them food producers.goodluck

claude russell
2/20/2012

Mout really mek fi talk! Ah bwoy,back to the seventies! All when the ideas have been tried & failed we need to say something so we bring them back!

Martin Naarendorp
2/20/2012

Most sustainable idea I have heard from a politician for a long time...

Nicolas Henry
2/20/2012

Soooo many ideas for JEEP. I wonder if all the ideas can fit into a JEEP. Maybe they should change the name to 18 wheeler, or even freight train.

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Use agriculture to mobilise JEEP — Val Wint