Norris McDonald | ‘Enuff kunumunu’ bang belly IMF policies, put Jamaica’s farmers first

Take you (imported goat) meat out mi rice!

…If you wanted something to eat

Man, take a fork and pick out you (imported goat) meat

But if you have one grain a rice

The Christ, I squeeze you throat like a vice!

– Lord Kitchener

Finance Minister Nigel Clarke presented his recent Budget in which no word was said about how Jamaica was going to get rid of the irrational reliance on importing food that can be locally produced.

The news about the continued dependency on imported food comes against the background of a Gleaner story in which Agriculture Minister Floyd Green reportedly said that Jamaica must spend US$1.5 billion to import goat and sheep meat, since “local farmers can only supply 20 per cent of the demand”.

What’s next, are they going to import ackee, too?

This shocking confession by the agricultural minister appears to be at odds with all the hype about Jamaica achieving tangible, long-lasting economic growth.

If the Jamaican economy is to pursue a sound economic growth path, how is this to be achieved?

Where is the national economic progress if the Government is building a national economy in which the Jamaican people are unable to feed themselves?

There is also a very strange silence from Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ and Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke’s Government on the ‘Jamaica 2030 Vision Plan’.

Shouldn’t the 2030 Vision Plan be the meat in the Government’s ‘curry goat gravy train’?

Importing food

Again, let’s look at this from the point of view of big, small, and medium-size farmers. How will they and their families survive if importing food from America is a key plank in the Government’s national plan?

My friends, we are yet to hear how the Jamaican people would be able to develop national agriculture and reduced the dependency on imported food products.

And yet, which appears clearly irrational, in my opinion, the Government says it will cut the general consumption taxes on imported goats and pigs.

Whoa! What a la-la! How does this benefit Jamaican farmers?

Shouldn’t the taxes be increased instead on imported products? Wouldn’t this help to increase investment by national, or even foreign investors, in developing Jamaica’s agricultural and industrial sectors?

There appears to be no logic to Government’s Budget or national planning, and I don’t think I am being biased. Word!

IMF BANG BELLY ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) bang belly economic policies, pursued by this Government, are increasingly making it harder for farmers to thrive.

For example, in 2021, Jamaica was said to have imported roughly 43 per cent in food from the United States. Roughly 60 per cent of this was supplied to hotels, restaurants and other tourist-related sectors. This is a market in which domestic producers ought to be used to supply food.

Why is there no plan to make our farming integrated into tourism and reduce food imports?

Let’s put all this into an international context. America is one of the most protectionist countries in the world who pass laws to give financial support to her companies.

Even America’s loyal European allies are now crying crocodile tears about this fact.

President Joe ‘Working Man’ Biden recently saluted his US$370-billion ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ by extolling that everyone should “buy American products”. There were billions in subsidies for companies and consumers who bought locally made American products.

But did he really mean Jamaica ought to buy American, too?

Did he mean that the Jamaican Government ought to make sure and buy American food products while local farmers suffer?

My friends, you tell me! Go ahead, since you are cheerleaders of this type of irrational, so-called free market policy.

Let’s be clear!

All country embraces some form of nationalism. Jamaica then – or any independent country for that matter, even in the context of international trade relations – ought to pursue national, industrial and agricultural policies in the interest of their people.

Meanwhile, as oil prices rise, the price of imports most definitely will rise. This means more suffering of Jamaican consumers.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

I have long been a strong advocate of putting Jamaican farmers and other national producers above foreigners.

My dear friends, I would now like to share some innovative ideas from Leroy E. Cooke, who is an agriculture and cooperative consultant who offers some innovative solutions.

Leroy Cooke posits that one way out of Jamaica’s food import crisis is:

• To promote agricultural cooperatives as the main mechanism to support profitability of farms of all sizes through the pooling of market, equipment, packaging, processing, and other services.

• Make it mandatory that only 15 per cent of agriculture food supply to hotels ought to come from imports.

• Develop a vibrant Co-operative Development Bank to provide investment support to the development of the rural agricultural sector.

• Pursue legal reforms to replace the Co-operatives Societies Act with more modern and dynamic laws.

Another strong recommendation he makes is for tourism to be more integrated in a national agricultural and industrial policy.

Hotels must be given a deadline, Leroy Cook says, “to use mainly Jamaican agricultural products in their cuisine”.

I believe these are sound ideas that the Government must consider now towards finding practical solutions to Jamaica’s food-import crisis.

Many patriotic Jamaicans feel that it is full time for Jamaica to stop pursuing this road-to-nowhere, bang belly IMF economic plan.

Every Budget time we have all this desk-banging, in which there are empty talk and ‘nuff’ rhetoric, but no concrete steps to make life better for the Jamaican people.

Time come! People want food in their pot!

Government must support local farmers in the drive to boost agriculture, not just to feed the nation, but also as a way of saving vitally needed foreign exchange!

That is just the ‘bitta’ truth!

Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.