Don1 never again this should happen

[Assasin]

Dairy sector revitalisation coming
published: Thursday | April 3, 2008

Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter
The Government has allocated $140 million for the revitalisation of the dairy industry, which will include the importation of cows.
Of the $140 million, some $20 million will be spent on the purchasing of livestock.
The process to increase the [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]stock[/COLOR][/COLOR] of cows begins this year and will last for another four years through a collaboration of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Beef and Dairy Producers Association of Jamaica (BDPAJ), and other stakeholders in the industry.
Shortage of cows
There is a shortage of cows in the island. Between 1992 and 2005, more than 500 dairy farmers went out of business. The country imports about 10 million kilogram of beef annually, while 10.75 million kilogram are produced locally, each year.
Additionally, some 14 million litres of fresh milk were produced last year, significantly less than the 140 million litres needed for consumption.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Balfeano Duffus, general secretary of the BDPAJ, said several factors, such as the liberalisation of trade in the 1990s and spiralling interest rates, have forced many dairy farmers out of [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]business[/COLOR][/COLOR].
However, he said recently there has been an upturn in the demand for beef and dairy products. "We are now faced with food security issues and rising costs of beef and dairy products," said Duffus.
Starting this year, the Government is seeking to import about 1,500 Jersey yearlings (one-year-old heifers) over the next three years.
There are additional plans to import 6,000 Jersey cow embryos out of New Zealand.
Richard Miller, dairy production specialist at the Dairy Development Board, said under the dairy revitalisation programme concentration will also be placed on pasture improvements and training for farmers. Among the strategies being outlined are plans to reduce praedial larceny that has plagued the dairy sector.

[Mosiah]

Do we have a Mad Cow Disease Unit at the Ministries of Health or Agriculture? Or in the OPM?

[Assasin]

No we nuh need Mad Cow Diease control cause the policy maker them who frame the policies that kill this industry is madder than any cow wid mad com diease.

[MdmeX]

Dr. Lecky must be turning and kicking in his grave

[Don1]

you're right you're right you're so right..

Dairy sector revitalisation coming
published: Thursday | April 3, 2008

Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter
The Government has allocated $140 million for the revitalisation of the dairy industry, which will include the importation of cows.
Of the $140 million, some $20 million will be spent on the purchasing of livestock.
The process to increase the [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]stock[/COLOR][/COLOR] of cows begins this year and will last for another four years through a collaboration of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Beef and Dairy Producers Association of Jamaica (BDPAJ), and other stakeholders in the industry.
Shortage of cows
There is a shortage of cows in the island. Between 1992 and 2005, more than 500 dairy farmers went out of business. The country imports about 10 million kilogram of beef annually, while 10.75 million kilogram are produced locally, each year.
Additionally, some 14 million litres of fresh milk were produced last year, significantly less than the 140 million litres needed for consumption.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Balfeano Duffus, general secretary of the BDPAJ, said several factors, such as the liberalisation of trade in the 1990s and spiralling interest rates, have forced many dairy farmers out of [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]business[/COLOR][/COLOR].
However, he said recently there has been an upturn in the demand for beef and dairy products. "We are now faced with food security issues and rising costs of beef and dairy products," said Duffus.
Starting this year, the Government is seeking to import about 1,500 Jersey yearlings (one-year-old heifers) over the next three years.
There are additional plans to import 6,000 Jersey cow embryos out of New Zealand.
Richard Miller, dairy production specialist at the Dairy Development Board, said under the dairy revitalisation programme concentration will also be placed on pasture improvements and training for farmers. Among the strategies being outlined are plans to reduce praedial larceny that has plagued the dairy sector.

I agree boss.

In my opinion the GOJ mismanaged the liberalization of the economy starting in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
They should have used a range of non-tariff barriers to regulate the wave of imports flooding the country in that period, protect the local industries and give them more time to restructure, retool and get ready for greater competition.

When you combine this GOJ myopia and kowtowing to the US & European governments and their agents lead by the IMF, WTO etc. with our backward and corrupt business class..... the result is disastrous.... the collapse of the dairy industry is a classic example.... of many.
The business class went to sleep on the issue of liberalization except the traders who of course are its main beneficiaries and welcomed it with glee.

The Jamaican business class is dominated by people with a trading mentality... margin gatherers with few original entrepreneurial thinkers.. sad.

[Don1]

Do we have a Mad Cow Disease Unit at the Ministries of Health or Agriculture? Or in the OPM?

Sometimes I feel this forum could use a mad cow disease unit when one sees some of the ridiculous posts.... especially those professing great knowledge but revealing either lunacy or ignorance.

[Muadib]

I thought Omar's policies and FINSAC took care of that class.....

Ah like how you meld the 80s and 90s together...

Heh, heh.

Pity the economic results vary like night and day under the two 'mismanagements'

You are like glass.. wi si right through yuh.

Don't forget to throw the Economics brain trust at the Intellectual Ghetto into the mix !

[Peter R]

What I'd give for a decent glass of fresh cow's milk. I don't like the UHT stuff we get here so I end up using very little milk in my diet.

BTW, what non-tariff barriers do you think would have worked?

And I agree with you, the caribbean as a whole has limited its entrepreneurial ventures primarily to merchandising, rather than
innovation.

pr

pr

[Muadib]

Innovation ?

Hmmm..

I know a few Economists from Silicon Valley that have an idea or two about Innovation...


LOL ! Mind yuh set off Don1 !

[Assasin]

you are 1000% correct on that.

So many industries went soar and everybody turned sellers thinking about the short term and not the long term.

[Don1]

voila!

What I'd give for a decent glass of fresh cow's milk. I don't like the UHT stuff we get here so I end up using very little milk in my diet.

BTW, what non-tariff barriers do you think would have worked?

And I agree with you, the caribbean as a whole has limited its entrepreneurial ventures primarily to merchandising, rather than
innovation.

pr

pr

From today's Gleaner: Here's what some of our trading partners do...... while Jamaica takes false pride in our free trade.
We have the requisite laws and regulatory strictures .... they're just not used as part of our trade policy sufficiently.






Free trade with Europe will not be entirely free - Next hurdle: Non-tariff barriers
published: Friday | April 4, 2008


John Myers Jr., Business Reporter


Minister of Agriculture Christopher Tufton, with pumpkin in hand, speaking with, from left, James Harmon, deputy director of USAID Jamaica, and Bradley Finzi- Smith from Food for the Poor at a showcase on rural agriculture in Old Harbour, St Catherine, March 26. - File

Europe's opening of its markets to Caribbean products will not mean automatic access to store shelves, according to a trade official who warned in Kingston this week that food exports would still have to hurdle non-tariff barriers.

Producers will have to satisfy the European Union trade bloc that their shipments meet established standards that countries use as a benchmark for quality.

Lincoln Price, the private sector liaison at the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), speaking at an agribusiness project launch Monday, said some of these conditions were 'burdensome and dense', often requiring that producers follow strict compliance procedures.

In that vein, he said, it was in the interest of farmers, agro-processors and exporters to educate themselves on the non-tariff barriers peculiar to their target export markets.

Jamaica's agriculture minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, acknowledged the issue as a political reality, but said exporters can overcome the barriers by being smart.

"Trade is not as free as we think it is," said Tufton.

"There may be rules that govern barriers as it relates to tariffs, taxes, duties and so on. But when it comes to non-tariff barriers - phytosanitary and sanitary conditions - that is where Jamaicans encounter serious problems."

Surmounting barriers

Surmounting the barriers, he adds, requires businesses to develop their intellectual capacity; to understand what is at play in order to surmount blockades.

"As a government, we are going to have to increase our efforts to work with entrepreneurs so that they can adjust to understanding individual markets because every market has it own sets of unique features," he said.

"We can only take advantage of the opportunities now if we develop the intellectual capacity to understand how markets operate in terms of non-tariff issues."

Agribusiness exports have duty-free access into the United States under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and the Caribbean Basin Trade Preference Act jointly called the CBI (Caribbean Basin Initiative), as well as into Canada under the CaribCan Agreement.

Still: "SPS - sanitary and phytosanitary - measures continue to complicate the agricultural trade regime," said Price at the launch of the Caribbean Agri-Business Association (CABA) Multilateral Investment Fund project in New Kingston on Monday.

Prior licensing

Similarly, the trade pact with Colombia guarantees access to Caricom goods, but strict food regulations dictate that traders must obtain prior licensing for the importation of all processed food for human consumption and a sanitary registration must be done before any of the products can be placed on the market there.

And traders of unprocessed foods must first obtain a sanitary import permit before an application can be made for an import licence.

In the case of the Dominican Republic, Caricom food products must first pass tests outlined in local food regulations before they are allowed to enter the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island, a condition outside of the trade agreement between the two.

Price said there was also a one-way bilateral trade agreement with Venezuela, but importers of processed and unprocessed food products are required to get sanitary health permits prior to import, as well as an import licence for certain groups of food products, such as meat, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, products of animal origin, prepared seafood and meats, cereals including rice, and processed vegetables and sauces.

But Price also said intra-Caricom trade was no different, and that the framework of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) did not adequately address the conflicts presented by non-tariff barriers.

"The CSME provides a robust policy framework for intra-regional trade development, but this has not been enough to stimulate meaningful transformation of the agribusiness sector," Price said.

"Dense food regulations and underdeveloped food safety machinery continue to retard agribusiness trade within the CSME."

There is in Jamaica fair appreciation of the challenges in cross-border trade, accompanied by much frustration. For example, president of the Jamaican chapter of CABA, Dr Keith Amiel, said that many countries, often to protect certain local crops or foods, implement stiff non-tariff barriers to bypass trade agreements.

"There are a number of SPS measures, some contrived, some imagined, some real; and depending on whether they want to defend the local equivalent to what you are trying to import or not, they will invoke almost anything to stop you," Amiel told the Financial Gleaner.

"A lot of it is arbitrary. They will block you as long as their crop is in and when the crop is over, all of a sudden you'll find that you may be able to get a little in."

john.myers@gleanerjm.com

[Don1]

Clearly ....

....... you illustrate the need for a mad cow disease unit on this forum.

[Muadib]

Thats more like it, your true colors shining through...

Heh, Heh..

[Don1]

True Blue for iva and iva!

Thats more like it, your true colors shining through...

Heh, Heh..

Glad you recognize I state the truth.

There may be hope for you yet.

[Muadib]

ah yes... but alas not much hope for you...