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Denbigh disappoints, Foreign produce, non-agricultural items abound
Published: Saturday | August 6, 2011 2 Comments
These two little girls, especially, seem very impressed with the dexterity of this pineapple vendor as he peels the fruit during a stop for refreshment at the annual Denbigh Show. - PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER SERJU
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Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer
DENBIGH, Clarendon:
GIVEN THE full calendar year it has to plan the next staging of the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show which will mark its milestone 60th anniversary in 2012, it is my hope that the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) will get it right.
While trying to meet my editors' pressing demands for stories based substantially on what the day's guest speaker and other officials would have to say, I was also busy walking the showground in an effort to get a pulse of the real issues affecting and concerning the primary audience for whose benefit the event was staged - Jamaican farmers.
My walks revealed that as usual in agriculture, the chasm between utterances of elected officials and policymakers and the tangible results that follow continue to widen.
When I enquired of Tyrone, a farmer displaying agricultural produce in the farmers' market, about the abundance of garlic imported from China, which was prominently displayed alongside the scallion, thyme and other locally grown crops on the stall, he was very forthright. It made good business sense, the St Elizabeth resident explained.
"When di customers dem come and mi nuh have it, dem go buy from somebody else and sometime dem go and buy everything from a next man. So mi haffi sell it." There is no arguing with that kind of logic, which guides his business acumen.
Irony plays out
However, clearly lost on this Jamaican farmer was the irony that the cost of his participation in the farmers' market, a first-time event at Denbigh, was underwritten by Eve, a wholly Jamaican-owned company, as part of its Eve-Vasion promotional initiative.
Patrons were encouraged to purchase a heavily discounted mix of Eve products, which were packaged from locally grown crops and animals.
When I asked Senator Norman Grant about this, he admitted to being unaware and expressed surprise, noting that this was inconsistent with the national drive to Grow What We Eat and Eat What We Grow. In his capacity as chairman of the organising committee for the annual show, it may be unfair to expect the former Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president to see and know everything that happens there.
However, another thing I found distasteful and for which the senator had no answer was the plethora of non-agricultural items - such as imported toys - which were prominently displayed and almost in your face, such was the abundance.
I was particularly puzzled by the brazenness of these vendors who were not hiding or engaging in the variation of street athletics at which their peers in downtown Kingston engage the police on an ongoing basis. They were operating in full view of the cops who were out on their numbers.
Deteriorating standards of agri shows
My consternation was fuelled by the vehemence and ferocity displayed by former Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton when he refused to open the annual Hague Agricultural Show and left in a huff. Charging that it had been hijacked by hustlers and allowed to deteriorate into a flea market, he vowed to withdraw financial support until and unless immediate and decisive action was taken to address the situation.
So incensed and serious was the minister about this matter that for the annual St Mary Agri-Expo which followed shortly, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority was instructed not to participate.
The ensuing negotiations resulted in a memorandum of understanding, which would see the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries committing $1 million to each of the annual national parish agricultural shows and $5 million to the Denbigh show.
If the JAS is to make the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show 2012 the mother of all shows as it is promising, it must now begin to reconnect with Jamaican farmers and return to the days when it could truly be described as a farmers' organisation.
As the Government seeks to put in place policies to promote cottage industries, supply niche markets for Jamaican products and promote development in rural communities especially, it should be looking to the 116-year-old JAS as an equal partner. With its islandwide network of branches, no other organisation is so equipped to reach and interact with farmers in even the most inaccessible places in Jamaica.
christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com
Published: Saturday | August 6, 2011 2 Comments
These two little girls, especially, seem very impressed with the dexterity of this pineapple vendor as he peels the fruit during a stop for refreshment at the annual Denbigh Show. - PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER SERJU
1 2 3 4 >
Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer
DENBIGH, Clarendon:
GIVEN THE full calendar year it has to plan the next staging of the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show which will mark its milestone 60th anniversary in 2012, it is my hope that the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) will get it right.
While trying to meet my editors' pressing demands for stories based substantially on what the day's guest speaker and other officials would have to say, I was also busy walking the showground in an effort to get a pulse of the real issues affecting and concerning the primary audience for whose benefit the event was staged - Jamaican farmers.
My walks revealed that as usual in agriculture, the chasm between utterances of elected officials and policymakers and the tangible results that follow continue to widen.
When I enquired of Tyrone, a farmer displaying agricultural produce in the farmers' market, about the abundance of garlic imported from China, which was prominently displayed alongside the scallion, thyme and other locally grown crops on the stall, he was very forthright. It made good business sense, the St Elizabeth resident explained.
"When di customers dem come and mi nuh have it, dem go buy from somebody else and sometime dem go and buy everything from a next man. So mi haffi sell it." There is no arguing with that kind of logic, which guides his business acumen.
Irony plays out
However, clearly lost on this Jamaican farmer was the irony that the cost of his participation in the farmers' market, a first-time event at Denbigh, was underwritten by Eve, a wholly Jamaican-owned company, as part of its Eve-Vasion promotional initiative.
Patrons were encouraged to purchase a heavily discounted mix of Eve products, which were packaged from locally grown crops and animals.
When I asked Senator Norman Grant about this, he admitted to being unaware and expressed surprise, noting that this was inconsistent with the national drive to Grow What We Eat and Eat What We Grow. In his capacity as chairman of the organising committee for the annual show, it may be unfair to expect the former Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president to see and know everything that happens there.
However, another thing I found distasteful and for which the senator had no answer was the plethora of non-agricultural items - such as imported toys - which were prominently displayed and almost in your face, such was the abundance.
I was particularly puzzled by the brazenness of these vendors who were not hiding or engaging in the variation of street athletics at which their peers in downtown Kingston engage the police on an ongoing basis. They were operating in full view of the cops who were out on their numbers.
Deteriorating standards of agri shows
My consternation was fuelled by the vehemence and ferocity displayed by former Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton when he refused to open the annual Hague Agricultural Show and left in a huff. Charging that it had been hijacked by hustlers and allowed to deteriorate into a flea market, he vowed to withdraw financial support until and unless immediate and decisive action was taken to address the situation.
So incensed and serious was the minister about this matter that for the annual St Mary Agri-Expo which followed shortly, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority was instructed not to participate.
The ensuing negotiations resulted in a memorandum of understanding, which would see the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries committing $1 million to each of the annual national parish agricultural shows and $5 million to the Denbigh show.
If the JAS is to make the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show 2012 the mother of all shows as it is promising, it must now begin to reconnect with Jamaican farmers and return to the days when it could truly be described as a farmers' organisation.
As the Government seeks to put in place policies to promote cottage industries, supply niche markets for Jamaican products and promote development in rural communities especially, it should be looking to the 116-year-old JAS as an equal partner. With its islandwide network of branches, no other organisation is so equipped to reach and interact with farmers in even the most inaccessible places in Jamaica.
christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com
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