Set new marker for Eat Jamaican Campaign – Alvaranga - JAS exec wants reduction in country’s high food import bill; questions the fate of local red peas

A leading agriculturalist has called into question the focus and practicality of the national campaign aimed at getting Jamaicans to eat and utilise more local foods in an effort to substantially grow domestic agriculture, while building on the nation’s food security and nutrition.

First vice-president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Denton Alvaranga, used the 17th anniversary of the ‘Grow What we Eat, Eat What we Grow’ observance at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hope Gardens head office, last Tuesday to remind his audience that when it was launched in 2003, the main stated aim of the campaign was to “reposition the Jamaica agricultural sector through a process of integrated rural development, as well as to develop a programme of sustainable food security”.

However, with Jamaica’s food import bill hovering around the US$1 billion mark for some time now, Alvaranga questioned whether there was really a commitment to re-establishing Jamaica as an agricultural country. He is convinced that our richest heritage accrues from rural farming communities, that all our best attitudes and values are to be found in the traditional Jamaican ‘country life’, and that central to our Jamaican culture is the food that we produce and the ways in which we prepare them.

“We need to set a new marker for this campaign and, by extension, for our country as well. Since this campaign was launched, the country has had a food import bill of just over US$900 million in 2018, and you will accept that this is unacceptable and untenable. While you let this sink in, let me remind you, too, that high food imports go beyond just ground provisions and tree crops. A significant proportion of the meat and fish consumed in this country, particularly in the tourist resorts, is imported.

“One of the critical keys in reversing these positions and bringing Jamaica closer to a semblance of food security lies in processing. If we were to really advance the processing sector, that is, modernising and expanding, we could, for example, significantly reduce the importation of rice and flour.”

Alvaranga went on to declare that some noticeable gains had been made over the tenure of the ‘Grow What we Eat, Eat What we Grow’ campaign. These include self-sufficiency in table eggs, chicken meat and pork, as well as 90 per cent self-sufficiency in Irish potato production and 25 per cent self-sufficiency in goat and beef production.

PLANT PROTEIN

However, against the background of these advances, Alvaranga had questions for Agriculture Minister Floyd Green, his Permanent Secretary Derman Spencer and CEO of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority about the fate of some local sources of plant protein. What has happened to local varieties of our red peas – Miss Kelly red peas, Portland Red red peas and the Round Red variety? What has happened to these varieties? What has happened to the African red cow peas that was introduced to us in the 1980s?”

Further, to build on the aforementioned gains, the Government also needs to take a serious look at the business propositions presented by non-food agricultural products/materials – bamboo, lumber, cotton, thatch, horticulture, cannabis, pharmaceuticals, etc, and other horticultural products.

“Here, too, there is some limited development of products for domestic as well as export production that needs to be more fully supported and promoted, supported with investments as well as public consumption,” Alvaranga urged.

The ‘Eat Jamaican’ campaign, with its catchy slogan: ‘Grow What we Eat, Eat What we Grow’, was launched on November 25, 2003 by the late Governor General Sir Howard Cooke, through a proclamation declaring November 25 annually as ‘Eat Jamaican’ Day.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com