House Approves Legislation For AIC To Take Over Functions Of AMC

Legislation to formally subsume the functions of the Agricultural Marketing Corporation (AMC) under the Agro-Investment Corporation (AIC) has been approved by the House of Representatives.

The Bill, the Agro-Investment Corporation (Amendment) Act, was passed during the sitting of the Lower House on Tuesday (May 25).

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, who piloted the Bill, explained that the legislation is seeking to put into law “the arrangements that have been made from 2009 that consolidated the functions of the Agricultural Marketing Corporation into the Agro-Investment Corporation”.

The Agricultural Marketing Corporation has been without a Board of Management from that time, and since then, its functions have been conducted by the Agro-Investment Corporation.

The Bill seeks to formalise the relationship between the Agro-Investment Corporation and the Agricultural Marketing Corporation by amending the Agro-Investment Corporation Act to entrust the functions of the Agricultural Marketing Corporation to the Agro-Investment Corporation and repeal the Agricultural Marketing Corporation Act.

It also seeks to strengthen the effectiveness of the Agro-Investment Corporation by increasing its membership and diversifying the qualifications and skill sets of the members; and to further increase the functions of the Agro-Investment Corporation, including empowering the entity to mobilise and manage a pool of funds to be used to enhance the competitiveness of Jamaican agriculture in the domestic and global markets.

The promulgation of this legislation is in keeping with the Government’s Public Sector Master Rationalisation plan, which is aimed at creating a more efficient and effective public sector by merging public bodies that share synergies of functions and resources.