Agriculture Minister Encourages Farmers to Form Organisations

Local farmers are being encouraged to form organisations and band together in order to strengthen their practices and, by extension, the agricultural industry.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, made the call while speaking during the recent handover of fertilisers and herbicides to coffee farmers in Portland who were affected by Hurricane Beryl.

Noting that, “there is power in organisations around farming”, Mr. Green reasoned that forming groups will facilitate, among other things, transparency when farmers are negotiating prices for agricultural goods.

“[There are] some things [that] the Government can do, but [there are] some things you have to do for yourselves. One of the things that you have to do for yourself is work together in relation to organisations, so that you can sit down and say, ‘well, in this area, this is what [we] are saying, these are [our] rules of engagement’. And if someone is coming to buy in this area, he has to talk to [the farmers’ association],” Mr. Green explained.

He noted that, “there was a time that we used to have strong associations, so that when a man is coming to talk, he is not talking to a one farmer.”

The Minister pointed out that when the dialogue involves only one farmer, “it doesn’t have an impact”, but when hundreds are engaged, “it has an impact.”

In the meantime, Mr. Green said he has asked the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) to investigate what could be deemed a fair market price for coffee, “and to move to publish that, so that farmers and the buyers know that this is what the Government is saying, based on the research that we have done.”