Yam farmers want more for their produce
Published:Sunday | July 21, 2024 | 12:08 AMRochelle Clayton - Staff Reporter
Concerned that the passage of Hurricane Beryl will further drive up production costs, yam farmers in Trelawny have appealed to exporters to increase the amount they are now paid for the potassium-rich tuber.
The recent hurricane has caused significant damage to crops and infrastructure, leading to higher expenses for recovery and cultivation. Farmers argue that without an increase in the purchase price, they may struggle to cover these additional costs and maintain their livelihoods.
“The only way we can continue doing this is if we get more money so we can help ourselves buy more yam sticks, more fertiliser,” Trelawny farmer Anthony Hanson said.
Jamaica earned US$40.8 million or roughly J$6.7 billion from the export of yam in 2023, according to the recently published Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ). The earnings was a 16.5 per cent jump over 2022.
There are 28,000 yam farmers across Jamaica, according to Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce that promotes business opportunities in export and investment. Only 21 per cent of the 195,000 tonnes of the yellow yam produced by Jamaica is exported, the ESSJ data shows.
With yam being one of the largest contributor to agricultural export earnings, the Ministry of Agriculture and Mining has partnered with JAMPRO and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) to triple the quantity of yams Jamaica sells on the international market. Hanson said he would love to contribute more the export numbers, but said the price currently paid to farmers acts as a disincentive to production.
“We want more money fi yam now. We want at least $50,000 [for] a 100 pound of yam dung a Trelawny,” said Hanson.
The Litchfield district-based farmer said that yam price has hovered in the region of $35,000 per 100 pound for some time. He said that at that price farmers are barely able to survive as the cost of production is constantly rising.
“That [high cost of production] a mash we up bad. We want somebody come talk fi we and defend we, so we can get more money fi we yam,” said Hanson.
Hanson said that the production cost of yam includes wages for labourers, cost for yam sticks as well as fertiliser and pesticides.
In 2022, the agriculture ministry, in a publication titled ‘Cost of Production Estimates’, placed the cost of producing a kilogramme of yellow yam in Clarendon at $128, which was more than double the production cost of $48.10 that was estimated in 2012.
The production cost of the tuber in Trelawny was slighter higher, at $150 per kilogramme. The cost of producing yellow yam in the Albert Town area of the parish was estimated at $44.87 in 2012.
The farmers’ cry for more from the export dollar comes at a time when the agriculture sector is reeling from the effects of Hurricane Beryl. Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, said in Parliament that assessments indicate that the sector incurred more than $4.7 billion in losses from the Category 4 hurricane that swept past Jamaica’s south coast on July 3. He said that 1,670 hectares of tuber crops such as yams and cassava, covering have been lost, and the estimated damage is $524 million.
Hanson told The Sunday Gleaner that farmers in Trelawny suffered huge setbacks as a result of the storm.
“Wul heap of the yam [sticks] dem blow down at the moment. We have all types of problems right now, and we nuh have anybody fi help we out,” the farmer said.
Lenworth Fulton, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, supported the farmers, stating that “yam is a very expensive crop to produce”. However, he urged farmers to keep detailed records of their expenses to protect against significant losses.
“One of the things I urge farmers to do is that every single thing they do with their crops, they write down an expense line, so they know exactly what the yam costed them to produce. Many of them are selling the yam at a loss,” Fulton explained.
“If they do their record keeping, they will know that they can’t sell the yam below certain price, and we don’t want them to overprice it either because our consumers have to buy it. But if they sell at a loss then they can’t plant back next year,” he added.
Winston Carter said that getting assistance from the government to help them recover from the impact of Beryl, as well as an increase in the buying price of yam would go a far way in lifting the living standard of farmers.
“It would help us good. We could buy likkle more yam sticks and fertiliser. A we help our family, so that will help dem even more,” Carter stated.
But Green told The Sunday Gleaner that help is under way for the country’s yam farmers. He said the support will form part of the ministry’s New FACE of Food campaign, which is geared towards driving food security, agribusiness development, climate change technologies, and export expansion.
“We have identified yam as a priority crop under our new face of food initiative, so yam farmers will see more direct benefits flowing to them. We have identified that we need to do more in terms of input support for the farmers,” Green said.
On the matter of prices paid to yam farmers, Green said the existence of organisation plays a critical role in market outcomes as they may be able to negotiate better prices.
“We have found that one of the best ways in agriculture to treat with prices is for farmers to ensure that they are joined together in organisations, so that the prices are more unified,” he said.
Hugh Dixon, executive director of the South Trelawny Environmental Agency, argued that the lack of farming associations may be a significant factor in this situation. Without camaraderie and unification, farmers lack adequate bargaining power to set their prices.
“It’s not a case where they have any dictation on the price of the product they are selling, which is a rather unusual situation for any commodity. In most marketplaces, the producer usually has a producer organisation that is able to come together and as a grouping, make those determinations,” Dixon explained.
“The farmers have to take some responsibility. I think there’s a two-edged sword there,” Dixon added.
In the meantime, export director at Capsicum Exports Limited, Trevaun Welcome, said farmers are getting the best possible prices for their yam. He said that the call for an increase in the rate is not one that could be entertained if all other things remain equal.
“I don’t believe it is feasible. I think farmers are really pushing the boundaries to try to make as much money as they can because they know that yam is a heavily exported product,” Welcome said.
The yam exporter also contended that farmers have largely benefited from the selling of their yams to the export market.
“I am not a farmer, so I can’t speak on their side, but on the exporter’s side, I have witnessed yam move from $150 to $450 in a period of 90 days. And I know that the reason it moved like that was simply because exporters were willing to pay more,” said Welcome.