“It's
not about cost reduction. What the school-feeding programme aims to do is to
see how we can incorporate local production in the school system and aid in the
development of our children”
Excerpt from comments
by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Roger Clarke at the Gleaner
Editors Forum on Wednesday July 3rd 2013
Thanks
to the poor Farming practices of Jamaican Farmers which haven’t changed for
quite awhile and the lack of coordination by the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) specifically
as it relate to the Ministry of Agriculture, Jamaica isn’t tapping into the
export earning potential of Agriculture. We still have an Agricultural system
that still thinks too local and produces products when markets aren’t
available, resulting in a Glut of products for livestock to Ground provisions.
An
excess of anything on a market results in the market moving from a Seller’s Market
i.e. the sellers can dictate the prices based on Supply and Demand Economics to
a Buyer’s Market. Thus a glut is an extreme case of this excess and as such
results in the Market becoming a Buyer’s Market and extremely low prices are
the result. Especially when the excess Agricultural product is of a quality
where it can’t be exported but is STILL edible!
All
of which could be avoided via the adoption of Solar Farming Methods as
described in my Geezam blog article
entitled “Solar
Powered Organic Farming – Sustainable Agricultural Development and Jamaica’s
Food Security”. All the water you’d ever need could be made via Solar
Desalination of Water from any source as argued in my Geezam blog article entitled “How
to Make Distilled Water using a Solar Desalinator”.
Agricultural
waste could also be pyrolized in a Vacuum Chamber using concentrated Solar
Radiation to make fertilizer and Oleum in my blog article
entitled “How
to upgrade your Solar Desalinator to a Solar Cooker and make a Solar Foundry
for Vacuum Pyrolysis”.
A
similar situation is happening in the Egg Farming and Fruit Farming as well as
it relates to a glut on the market. An since the year has began the Ministry of
Agriculture has moved to correct anomalies in the Farming Sector and address
the issue of overproduction of farm produce for which there is no market.
So
much so that the Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke has finally approve the
use of excess Fruit to make Fruit Juices in the School Feeding Program as per
the article “Local fruit
juices to finally flow into schools September”, Published Friday July 5,
2013, Jodi-Ann Gilpin, Gleaner Writer, The
Jamaica Gleaner. This is in keeping with a promise made earlier in January 2013
and re-iterated in May 2013 to approve the production of Fruit Juice Concentrate
as noted in the article “Fruit
purée project gets nod”, Published Wednesday May 8, 2013, The Jamaica Gleaner.
There
are also plans for the use of Liquified Eggs to make Nutri-buns for the School
Feeding program Since January 2013 as noted in the articles “Cabinet
gives nod to liquid eggs - Local product to replace imported butter oil in
nutri-buns”, published Thursday January 24, 2013, Daraine Luton, Senior
Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner
The
current glut in Pork in Jamaica as note in the article “Farmers
struggle as glut puts freeze on pork demand”, published Friday July 5,
2013, Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner is being handled via
the Ministry of Agriculture seeking export opportunities for the excess Pork in
Jamaica, albeit the School Feeding Program cannot be used for this purpose. That
glut is again the result of the Ministry of Agriculture not taking advantage of
any export opportunities to the Caribbean and the Commonwealth and even to the US
via compliance with their export regulations.
Local
Consumption of pork is low averaging 6Kg per person in Jamaica when compared to
45kg per person worldwide as per the article “CB spent $400m to get more Pork eaters”,
published Wednesday, April 06, 2011, The Jamaica Observer.
In my
blog article
entitled “Ministry
of Agriculture and Fisheries Pork PR for increased Production - Jamaicans don’t
like Pork Because they cannot cook it”, I’ve argued that it’s because
Jamaicans cannot cook Pork, as it’s not an easy meat to prepare. Combined with
dietary requirements of many Jamaicans and growing up in households where Pork
is not religiously consumed in most cases because of religious obligations,
Pork’s glut isn’t surprising.
Thus
the solution becomes clear: Export and lowering the production costs associated
with Pork Production will save Pig farmers in the long run. A switch to Solar Farming
methods that utilize all the waste products from Farming is also the way to go
to make Fruit and Egg Farming more efficient in terms of monetizing glut and export
ready with a reduced use of Pesticides and Fossil fuel based inputs as my Geezam blog article entitled “Solar
Powered Organic Farming – Sustainable Agricultural Development and Jamaica’s
Food Security” argues.
Solar
Farming in Fruit, Egg and Pork Production will make Jamaica Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
(2013) as it relates to our Food Security.
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