“Over
the past five years, the agriculture sector in the Caribbean has been affected
by shifts in weather patterns. We have experienced significant episodes of
prolonged droughts, frequent intense rainfall, flooding and hurricanes.
Climate-related natural disasters, especially hurricane and drought, could
result in losses estimated at US$22 billion annually by 2050 throughout the
Caribbean”.
Agriculture Minister
Audley Shaw speaking at the now concluded Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and
Food Show on Saturday August 5th 2018.
Climate
change is now affecting us financially, through agriculture.
So
says Agriculture Minister Audley Shaw who cites losses of $1 billion to the
Agriculture Sector in the past two years as noted in the article “Climate
change hits agriculture with $1b loss, says Shaw”, published Wednesday,
August 08, 2018, The Jamaica Observer.
He
made this statement at the recently concluded Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial
and Food Show on Saturday August 5th 2018, and pointed out that the effect was,
quote: “beginning to have a sustained depreciating impact on agricultural
production”.
I
personally was at Denbigh and saw little improvement in the facilities and
displays. Albeit technology was on display, very little of it was what small
farmers could afford. A good example of this problem was this tractor which had
an attach for ploughing up inside of a large chicken coop……who can afford this
attachment, let alone a tractor for such a purpose?
Minister
Audley Shaw is clearly aware of this as well as the financial constraints
facing farmers, quote: “We recognise that there are several persistent
challenges and constraints facing the agricultural sector, chief among these,
of course, being the impact of climate change”.
So
what has Agriculture Minister Audley Shaw done that will make a difference?
Agriculture Minister
Audley Shaw - Crop Modelling a first vital step
In
July 2018, the minster introduced crop modeling.
This
is the use of computer simulation software to predict the effect of various
factor on the growth of crops and thus better plan what to plant, when to plant
it and the cost of inputs and potential yields.
Crop
modeling software, like any simulation software, can help you plan and reduce
losses and maximize on the yield of your field but with lower cost in terms of
planning.
Crop
Modeling software is used extensively in global agriculture with benefits such
as:
1. Increasing
farmers' crop yields
2. Improvement
of research and extension capabilities
3. Informing
sustainable and effective planning
Now
that we have this tool, which is really an advanced version of Farmville but
for actual agriculture on real land, planning large scale farming should be a
lot easier. Still, it does not address the losses by farmers, many of whom
plant and raise livestock on their own land using traditional techniques that
are effective but low yield.
Consequently
many farmers do not make much money at the farm gate and even fewer invest in
any newer farming technologies or techniques, especially if it involves loans
or the possibility of the Government owning their land.
So
....how do you convince Farmers, who are steeped in traditional ways of farming
that newer methods exist, to invest in any new technology?
Future of Agriculture -
Agriculture Minister Audley Shaw Plans need financing
Agriculture
Minister Audley Shaw does have some new strategies that I personally like.
He
mentioned them at Denbigh and they are geared towards achieving sustainable
production:
1. Provision
of more irrigation systems
2. Implementing
more drought-resistant measures such as water harvesting and storage
3. Application
of new technologies to include drones and alternative energy sources
4. Coordinated
value chain-driven partnerships and linkages between agriculture and industry
5. Increased
efforts to establish agricultural insurance schemes
We'll
definately need some external funding for these overhauls of our ageing
Agriculture sector as promised by Audley Shaw, quote: “It is worth repeating
that grant funding from the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership
Fund, administered through the Caribbean Development Bank, in an amount
equivalent to £35,515 million will go towards the cost of the Essex Valley
Agricultural Development Project. ....”
So
is this enough to transform Agriculture and make it resistant to Climate
Change.
Food Security in the
Face of Global Warming - Free Farming Loans and Incentives to modernize
I
especially like the mention of Water Harvesting and long term water storage
initiatives and the planned use of Drones and Alternative Energy Resources;
these are thing I've written about before.
This
is especially true of Water Harvesting which I suspect will eventually lead to
the liberalization of the Water Sector in Jamaica as predicted in my blog article
entitled “How
Diehl Metering Prepaid Water meters for NWC enables Prepaid Water and Rainwater
Harvesting”.
Drones
and possibly blimps with cameras could help with praedial larceny, which is
more like organized crime as posited in this article “Full
Potential Of Agriculture Remains Untapped – JAMPRO”, published Tuesday July
31, 2018, The Jamaica Gleaner.
What
I do not hear or see more of his plans for Vertical Farming i.e. basically
multi-storey buildings designed to grow crops in a controlled Hydroponic and
Aquaponics environment, possibly using tissue culture as explained in my blog article
entitled “How
IGES Canada Ltd Vertical Hydroponic Aquaponic Towers make low cost Organic
foods”.
Or
even the use of Solar Power and a centralized network with moisture sensors to
control the usage of water as show in the images below I took at Denbigh 2018.
Or
plans to use of Mechatronics to do labour intensive tasks in agriculture such
as checking on plants, pruning, weed control and livestock farming as explained
in my blog
article entitled “How
Australia's University of Sydney Livestock Farmbot heralds Efficient
Agricultural Towers”.
Whatever
plans they have, they need to be given to farmers for free, with no strings
attached for 5 years. This would be done in exchange for members of the
Government to come in and manage the farm, with the farmer keeping the profits
but benefitting from increased use of the above-mentioned agricultural
technological innovations.
The
Government of Jamaica could also have hotels involved in the management of the
farms by specifying what they want to have grown and having farmers meet that
demand as Audley Shaw had argued back in June 2018 as noted in this article “Minister
Shaw Wants Hotels to Purchase More Local Produce”, published July 13, 2018
by Chad Bryan, The Jamaica Information Service.
This
in order to make us ready for a future of food scarcity as the world population
increases as explained in my blog article
entitled “United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says Insects is the Meat for the next
20 years”.
Still,
Jamaica has to take small steps......or decided to makes sum huge leaps of
faith, as increasing Global Temperatures threaten to make Drought a yearlong
phenomenon.
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