Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Help For Coffee Farmers
#Kingston, September 12, 2018 – Jamaica – Small coffee farmers who have been severely affected by the ongoing decline in the industry will now have access to $60 million, which has been donated by philanthropist and businessman, Michael Lee-Chin and his family.
The money, being made available through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), will assist the neediest of the 7,000 registered coffee farmers. The announcement was made during a media briefing at the New Kingston offices of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries on Monday (September 10).
Under the arrangement, farmers will indicate to RADA what their immediate needs are in terms of tools and other supplies that can help to boost their productivity. RADA will then purchase the items required.
Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, thanked Mr. Lee-Chin for the personal contribution, which will go towards the welfare of coffee farmers by helping them to “get back on their feet and help their families”. He said that this short-term intervention is a welcome boost to the industry, which is “at a cross roads”, having declined dramatically over the past 25 years.
“We used to produce 700,000 boxes of Blue Mountain coffee. We are targeting 230,000 or 240,000 right now – that’s a pretty sharp decline,” he said, noting, as well, that 20,000 boxes of High Mountain coffee are now being produced, where it previously yielded 400,000 boxes.
With coffee price at as low as $4,000 per box last year, Mr. Shaw lamented that the country’s farmers do not have much bargaining power and have no control over market prices.
“It is most unfortunate that while the demand for coffee consumption globally has either been steady or generally increasing, our coffee industry is going in the opposite direction. Something has to be done about it,” he stressed.
The Minister noted that even though the industry is now privatised, the Government is still committed to working with stakeholders to ensure the industry is resuscitated.
“Government still has responsibility, in our view, for facilitation and for the aggressive promotion of the coffee industry. It’s another one of our unique products; we have to promote it to the hilt,” he said.
He said the Administration will ensure the continued integrity of the product; continue to provide technical support, extension services and technology transfer for small farmers; and provide general industry development.
The intervention was initiated by Member of Parliament for East Rural St. Andrew, the Most Hon. Juliet Holness, who said she approached Mr. Lee-Chin last week to outline the plight of coffee farmers and to seek his assistance.
“This one-time gift to the farmers means that many are going to be comfortably able to send their children back to school this term, and many will be in a position to be able to access, through RADA, some amount of assistance,” she said.
Mrs. Holness noted that farmers she has interacted with have requested a tractor for them to share between their communities; a truck to transport their coffee to market; and well as pesticides, fungicides and fertiliser.
For his part, Mr. Lee-Chin said he is aware that the Government does not have the fiscal space to provide relief, and, therefore, the gift is “a stop-gap solution to the plight faced by our farmers” in an industry that “is in crisis”.
Release: JIS
KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.
This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.
“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.
He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).
Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.
“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.
“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.
Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.
Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.
The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.
The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.
NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.
CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON
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