Agriculture is crucial to securing our future. Agriculture is that chief cornerstone and food security is one of the fundamental priorities. As the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) opened in a recent statement, with the widespread impact of COVID-19, "We risk a looming food crisis, unless measures are taken fast to protect the most vulnerable, keep global food supply chains alive and mitigate the pandemic's impacts across the food system. Border closures, quarantines, and market, supply chain and trade disruptions could restrict people's access to sufficient/diverse and nutritious sources of food, especially in countries hit hard by the virus or are already affected by high levels of food insecurity." Our farmers and fishermen are more important now than ever before.

The Local Reality

The last two quarters of the year have been good for agriculture, with a seven per cent growth in the last quarter. In fact, production has increased across almost all major produce sectors, which in turn means that at present we have sufficient supplies of vegetables, fruits, tubers and meat for the next two months.

However, with the significant downturn in demand due to the fallout in the tourism sector, our farmers have been hard hit. The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) has estimated an excess of 20,000 tonnes of produce for the months of March and April, amounting to approximately $2 billion in potential losses. Our fish industry has also seen a significant downturn, with estimates of losses amounting to over $1 billion.

Our livestock industry has reported an over 50 per cent fall-off in demand, and our egg and dairy farmers are reeling from the crunch. Clearly, the ability to find markets for those impacted and to help them rebound from this fallout is essential if our short-term security is to be transformed into long-term sustenance.

The Ministry of Agriculture allocated $240 million to start an excess produce buy-back programme. Thus far, we have impacted over 200 farmers from nine parishes and purchased over 250,000 pounds of produce. We have also engaged our private-sector partners to increase their take-off of the excess, especially where they have the appropriate storage capacity. The take-up has been encouraging, with GraceKennedy committing to moving all excess peppers and scallion, Trade Winds Limited is working with us to develop a new tomato base juice to move excess tomatoes, and Dencon Foods Limited agreeing to purchase 400,000 pounds of Irish potato.

Required:

A. Given the current context in which Jamaica, like the rest of the world, is navigating COVID 19:

i. What are the challenges being faced by small developing nations, that could impact regional food security and self-sufficiency?

ii. Describe some ways in which Jamaica's agricultural sector has contributed to the economic growth and stability.

B. i. Evaluate the effectiveness of public policies and programmes which were implemented to help farmers navigate market disruptive forces which were brought on by the pandemic.

ii. Describe TWO (2) additional strategies and or actions on the part of the government which may be necessary in a post COVID-19 era?