Dr. Tufton Calls for Dynamic Export Policy

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has said that the country’s export strategy must be adjusted to keep pace with the dynamism of the markets it is targeting.
“Our export strategy must be driven by an understanding of the marketplace that we would like to serve,” Dr. Tufton told the Jamaica Exporters’ Association’s (JEA) quarterly luncheon, at the Terra Nova Hotel, Kingston on Tuesday (March 31).
He pointed out that the process was dynamic and, therefore, it was critical to introduce a tracking system which could observe the trends in the “tastes and the attitudes” of the consumers in that marketplace over a period of time.

Agriculture Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has a light exchange with former President of the Jamaica Exporters’ Association (JEA), Marjory Kennedy, during the JEA’s quarterly luncheon held at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel, Kingston, on Tuesday (March 31).

Dr. Tufton pointed out that, over time, markets in North America, Europe or elsewhere, have changed their tastes for particular products, for various reasons. He said that other countries supplying those markets have adjusted their export strategies, therefore, if Jamaica is to compete successfully it must keep pace with those changes.
He said that the export sector is one of the more important sectors of the economy, and if economic development is to be achieved and wealth created, Jamaica has to be able to compete with other exporting countries, including those which have been able to access the island’s markets and consumers due to the liberalisation of the marketplace.
He stated that while, up to the 1970’s, developing countries were net exporters of food to the developed world to the tune of about US$1 billion, since the 1980s that trend has been reversed and developed countries were now exporting most of the same foods that developing countries produce, creating a surplus in the market.
“Projections, according to one international agency, suggest that by 2030 the surplus of exports from developed to developing countries is estimated to be somewhere in the region of US$50 billion,” he noted.
Dr. Tufton said that there are a number of reasons for the food surplus, and one factor was that both the landscape for production and the opportunities to access markets have also changed significantly, but these changes are more beneficial to developed than developing countries.
“The developed world provides a lot more support for their primary producers and, some may argue that, this support has created unevenness in terms of the primary productive capacity of the developing countries over the developed countries,” he explained.
At the same time, he said that the developed world has not invested as much, in terms of capacity-building, to allow the developing countries, as primary producers, to be as competitive in the global marketplace.
“For the most part, in small developing countries like Jamaica, it is difficult for us to compete on economies of scale based on mass production. We have traditionally been accustomed to being primary producers and, therefore, our primary products have been exported in the form of commodities. In that respect, because we do not have the technology, because we are not mass producers of these products, as smaller countries, we are challenged to compete and to sustain an export agenda,” he pointed out.
He said that it was important for organisations, like the JEA, in collaboration with other stakeholders, to seek to influence Government’s food export policy.
“I think, in a sense you are, but to be more so now, in terms of the approach towards our export strategy, in an attempt to adjust to meet the realities that exist within the marketplace, which gives an advantage to those countries that are more developed and have invested a lot more in supporting their local export base,” he said.
Dr. Tufton said that it was for this reason that, under the Ministry’s production policy and programme, a much stronger marketing and data collection unit was established to set the stage for the programmes that would be pursued, based on what the market is looking for.
He explained that, under this strategy, the market has been divided into four segments to accommodate opportunities in tourism, agro-processing, production for the retail sector and an increased emphasis on exports.
“There will be some overlapping, (as) agro-processors also export, but we believe that in segmenting the market into those four segments, it gives us, at least, an opportunity to try and profile those targeted consumers and to determine exactly what their requirements are, in the respective product categories that exist,” he said.
The JEA’s quarterly luncheon was held under the theme, ” Building Sustainable Partnerships in the Agri-Industry.” The JEA is a private trade association, committed to enhancing the competitiveness and sustained growth of Jamaica’s non-traditional export sector.