Food a pillar for Jamaica's progress

Julian 'Jingles' Reynolds, Contributor

It gave the appearance of a plot by Martin Henry and I when his column, 'Whither agriculture?', and my last column, 'Wanted: development czar for Jamaica', appeared in the In Focus section of The Sunday Gleaner of January 29.

My colleague's column incisively and eloquently focused on the importance of agriculture and agro-processing to Jamaica's development. It was my intention, emerging from my last article, to elaborate in future columns on the sectors I had highlighted in my call for a czar to coordinate and lead the charge of growth and development.

In so many articles over the years, I emphasised the fundamental role of agriculture and agro-processing to the country's future growth. In 'Agriculture under arrest', The Sunday Gleaner, November 16, 2008; 'A time for change' February 8, 2010; 'Will Jamaica ever learn?' March 6, 2011; 'Can Jamaica realise its true potential', in The Gleaner, November 24 and 25, 2002.

When I promote the agricultural sector, it is from farming in Jamaica and purchasing from farmers and manufacturers, and marketing Jamaican products, mostly agricultural, in the United States (US) for over three decades. It is an accepted fact in political economy that a nation's food security is crucial to its development. A country is weak and vulnerable if most of its food is produced by others.

Jamaica, we know, has a long history of producing food products for world demand. Sugar, banana, cocoa, annatto have built wealth beyond the shores of Jamaica, and as well internally. Much later, yams, ackee, breadfruit, ugli fruit have generated significant revenues for Jamaica, and employed Jamaican workers.

My friend and business colleague, Andrew Morales, head of the agro-processing factory, West Best Foods, described canned ackee as "Jamaican gold". Ackee generates some US$12 million for Jamaica annually. It has been the lead item to American buyers for most of us in the food-distribution business in North America.

When the importation of ackee was suspended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1993, the smuggling of the product into the US from Canada became a major industry benefiting some. And when US Ambassador Stanley McLelland championed for the FDA ban to be removed from ackee, and export was resumed in 1999, it was a lifeline that the Jamaican economy welcomed. Jamaican ackee export then to the US was around US$10 million.

Largest and oldest companies

As I indicated in the article 'Towards increased production and productivity' in The Sunday Gleaner of September 23, 2007, GraceKennedy and Jamaica Producers, two of Jamaica's largest and oldest companies, have built their successes on agricultural production. Both have diversified significantly, but agriculture-related activities still account for some 50 per cent of Grace's revenues, which in 2010 was in excess of J$55 billion, while at Jamaica Producers where almost all of its activities are agriculture-related, it had revenues in excess of J$7 billion for 2010.

And as the Jamaican diaspora grows, as will Jamaica's success in athletics, the spreading of its entertainment fare globally, and increased popularity as a tourist destination, the demands for Jamaican agricultural products will have exponential growth.

What the Government should be doing is building the country's future on the pillars of the industrial sectors that are going to have the greatest impact on growth and development. And I point to food, fun - entertainment, tourism, fashion, sports; and sun - alternative energy. This calls for strategic cohesiveness, innovative thinking, and inspired leadership.

It is frustrating to see little or no actions taken in areas that many of us have advocated as sure shots for alleviating poverty and anaemic economic growth. An example: In the 1980s, I was able in getting a small number of Jamaican mangoes into the US for a few lucky customers, and was very aware of the superiority in taste and sweetness of Jamaican mangoes compared to the Haitian, Mexican and Brazilian varieties that had authorised entry into the US and dominated the New York area market.

After research, I wrote two articles in The Daily Gleaner - July 11, 1989, 'How the hot-water treatment works', and 'Jamaican mangoes for US market?' that highlighted the Mediterranean fruit fly disease which kept Jamaican mangoes out of the US market, and the hot-water bath treatment that would allow Jamaican mangoes entry into the US, like Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Brazil, among others.

A facility was being tested then at the Norman Manley Airport, and it was expected that Jamaican mangoes would enter the US soon thereafter. Two years later, Jamaica was no closer to entering the lucrative US mango market, which resulted in another article of mine published in The Sunday Gleaner of September 1, 1991 titled 'Demand for mangoes to increase'. I revisited the matter in the article 'Jamaica's cry for leadership, development and productivity' in the May 24, 2009 Sunday Gleaner, and still no member of government, or the private sector, to date, has responded.

Great income earners

Today, there are more than 15 countries exporting mangoes to the US, led by Mexico, which dominates, selling more than US$125 million in 2009. Haiti comes in sixth, earning above US$8 million in 2009, according to data supplied by the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. Mango is only one example of the many Jamaican food products that are potentially great income earners: rose apple, naseberry, guineps, custard apple, jackfruit, soursop are a few others.

And even greater revenue generators are the value-added canned products from these fruits. Several of these canned fruits are exported from countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and India to the US market. Several years ago, I looked at the mark-up on guineps from Jamaican farm gate to consumer in New York - it was 600 per cent.

A fundamental problem facing the country's economic growth is a lack of an agricultural export policy, and one that is market driven. In my experience, and I would venture that of my colleagues and business partners, there has been virtually no product that has been introduced to the American market that did not have potential to sell significantly. The problems have always been being able to produce consistently, quantitatively, and at competitive prices. This inability to produce to market demands is dictated by not having access to affordable capital in a timely manner, lack of long-term planning, and high energy cost.

Over the years, Jamaican policymakers had marketers with vast American experience like Byron LaBeach, the dean of Jamaican food distributors; Derrick Cox, former trade consul to New York; and Peter Shaw, one of the longest-serving entrepreneurs in the food importation and distribution business in the United States, that they could have tapped into to build an export policy that would have grown the Jamaican productive capacity.

But this calls for public-private sector partnerships that see the country's production and productivity beyond that of an individual hustling and scrambling to secure assets to satisfy banking requirements that did not address the true requirements of the project to begin with.

More resources

In some instances, my partners and I have sought to share our experience and expertise with bigger companies with much more resources, which did not work in our favour. In the mid-1980s, Peter Shaw, a boyhood friend, approached GraceKennedy to establish a North American presence. Grace refused his solicitation, but within a couple of years announced sending someone from Jamaica to do exactly what was suggested. Today, a great part of the company's profits comes from this market.

Again, in the early 2000s, we had meetings with Lasco top management in Jamaica to partner with them in the US, emphasising the profitability of them using ackee as the lead item into the market. The partnership was not made, but the company now sells canned ackee in the market.

As far back as the late 1970s, we were putting products such as packaged chocolate balls, cinnamon leaves with nutmeg, herbal plants such as cerassee, mint and rosemary, canned fruit juices, tuna hair shampoo from the factories of small manufacturers such as Brico and Bellrose, and small farmers in several parishes, into US markets. And when there was a slow-moving product in the New York market, we found other markets in places like Michigan and Pennsylvania that were largely non-Jamaican, but pleased with the products.

The demand for Jamaican products continues to grow, and as was done in a study carried out on yams by Jamaica Export Trading Company several years ago, in which I participated, JAMPRO and the Jamaica Exporters' Association should undertake an intensive study of US and European markets in order to better penetrate these markets in this new global environment.

Arable land space

Until Jamaica has used much of its arable land space, there is no support for the argument posited by some that the country is small and does not have much potential deriving from an agricultural pursuit.

Use all the available space for production to address food importation substitutes, and meet growing global demand. Recently, I had a most pleasant experience. Over the past 16 months, because of serious health issues in my family, I am forced to curtail my food-distribution business.

A retail customer sent my company in Jamaica an email saying she could not get a product she "has fallen in love with" - a dried jerk seasoning on our Anything Jamaican brand - at the store where she usually gets it. The storeowner was informed that there wasn't any. However, a few weeks ago, I found a case in the warehouse, took it to the store and emailed the customer. They both extended much gratitude. The storeowner, upon receiving it, placed it at his cash register alongside a Grace product.

The emerging technology coming from places as diverse as Texas A&M University, Israel and India can propel Jamaica's productive capacity by as much as a ninefold increase over present output. But a can-do, proactive approach is required.

Julian 'Jingles' Reynolds has operated in the US and Jamaica as a writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur for four decades. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com