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Pay coffee farmers promptly as a tribute to Keble Munn
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Dear Editor,
The All-Island Coffee Growers Association wishes to salute Keble Munn as a patriotic Jamaican and one who has made a sterling contribution to Jamaica's agriculture, both as a former minister and an unparalleled pioneer in the coffee sub-sector. This son of the soil was a visionary who established Jamaica's competitive edge by bringing cohesion to a small-farming philosophy, giving birth and sustenance to what is now known as commodity boards.
He was more than instrumental in bringing recognition to this comparatively small island when he navigated Jamaican coffee to capture the most discriminating palates around the globe.
It is for this reason that today's coffee stakeholders should smite their breasts in bitter lament that Munn's 60-year-old marketing arrangements which saw a trade in coffee raw materials have not been improved. Indeed, we've failed to redefine the market by adding value to the product.
The small-farmer profile, for at least the last century, is one in which his family's livelihood depended entirely on their own subsistence farming. The longevity of this is largely responsible to the extent we can claim a coffee, banana, cocoa or sugar-cane industry.
Munn made it possible for the small coffee farmer to leverage his crops so that whatever the emergency, he could rely on the tradition of Central Factory to respond to him positively. Today, that same small farmer is waiting at least 10 months and he still cannot collect his final payment for cherry coffee he delivered.
I call on the coffee marketing companies to promote a positive remembrance of the pioneer of today's industry, by not unduly holding up the funds of the already disadvantaged small coffee grower.
Derrick Simon
President
All-Island Coffee Growers Association
Kingston 8
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Dear Editor,
The All-Island Coffee Growers Association wishes to salute Keble Munn as a patriotic Jamaican and one who has made a sterling contribution to Jamaica's agriculture, both as a former minister and an unparalleled pioneer in the coffee sub-sector. This son of the soil was a visionary who established Jamaica's competitive edge by bringing cohesion to a small-farming philosophy, giving birth and sustenance to what is now known as commodity boards.
He was more than instrumental in bringing recognition to this comparatively small island when he navigated Jamaican coffee to capture the most discriminating palates around the globe.
It is for this reason that today's coffee stakeholders should smite their breasts in bitter lament that Munn's 60-year-old marketing arrangements which saw a trade in coffee raw materials have not been improved. Indeed, we've failed to redefine the market by adding value to the product.
The small-farmer profile, for at least the last century, is one in which his family's livelihood depended entirely on their own subsistence farming. The longevity of this is largely responsible to the extent we can claim a coffee, banana, cocoa or sugar-cane industry.
Munn made it possible for the small coffee farmer to leverage his crops so that whatever the emergency, he could rely on the tradition of Central Factory to respond to him positively. Today, that same small farmer is waiting at least 10 months and he still cannot collect his final payment for cherry coffee he delivered.
I call on the coffee marketing companies to promote a positive remembrance of the pioneer of today's industry, by not unduly holding up the funds of the already disadvantaged small coffee grower.
Derrick Simon
President
All-Island Coffee Growers Association
Kingston 8