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....... long, long overdue.UWI Mona now offering agri degrees
BY PATRICK FOSTER, Observer writer fosterp@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, August 06, 2009
RESPONDING to the increasingly pivotal role expected from agriculture in Jamaica, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus is now offering bachelor's and master's degree courses in the subject starting this September.
UWI principal Professor Gordon Shirley made the disclosure last Tuesday at the launch of the Food Security and Agricultural Development in the Americas conference held at the campus' Mona Visitors Lodge.
Persons desiring a career in agriculture may now pursue a BSc or MSc in Tropical Horticulture at the University.
"We will advertise the Bachelor's programme in August," Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Professor Ishenkumba Kahwa, told the Observer.
Admitting that the window for admission to the course was short, Kahwa said that it would also be introduced to persons who have already applied for admission to Mona.
The Master's degree programme is scheduled to begin in January 2010, Kahwa said, adding that the courses were tailored to address the problems faced by the industry in the Caribbean.
He explained that the new courses covered the production of fruit and vegetable crops in the region and included extensive training in entrepreneurial skills.
Prior to this development, a UWI degree course in agriculture was offered only at the St Augustine campus in Trinidad, but according to Kahwa that course differs from the one now offered at Mona.
"We are not trying to duplicate what is at St Augustine," Kahwa remarked.
"Our programme will have a different shape and look, the emphasis is producing a graduate that is technical savvy as well as business savvy," he added.
In the meantime, Minister of Agriculture Dr Christopher Tufton, who was guest speaker at the conference launch, urged discussion about the effects of globalisation and world trade policy on Jamaica's agriculture production and food security.
Tufton argued that Jamaica's interpretation and implementation of the trade liberalisation model over the past 20 years had been bad for the country and marginalised local agriculture capacity.
"The truth is that even while we are yet to agree on the terms of liberalisation, there are provisions under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) that allow countries like Jamaica to exercise certain options that preserve expanding local capacity," Tufton contended.
"Unfortunately we have not exercised those options," he charged, adding that Jamaica had moved ahead of the schedule in order to implement what was felt "our salvation" at the time - access to cheaper food.
Contending that cheaper food imports did not always improve food security, Tufton cited the dairy industry where he said the importation of subsidised European milk wiped out local production.
When the European subsidies were redirected, Jamaica was left without a viable diary industry and had to import milk at higher prices, Tufton said.
"There are short-term and long-term consequences," he remarked.
The agriculture minister challenged the UWI and other research institutions to study the last 20 years of trade liberalisation in Jamaica to quantify how it has created a more "food-secure society".
"The 20 years up to this point we have seen in Jamaica some 30 per cent reduction in food [production]. it points directly to a marginalisation of the primary productive base because of a greater preference on trade policy," argued Tufton.
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