Golding calls for more support for farmers

 

Opposition Leader Mark Golding is again calling for more to be done to support farmers. 

 

Citing the recent report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which outlined that some 55 per cent of the country is food insecure, Mr. Golding argued that agriculture needs to be at the centre of national development. 

 

He said the high regard for Jamaican produce should be leveraged to maximise revenue. 

 

"We need to really get behind agriculture in a major way in Jamaica.... In the past, we had tremendous R&D, research and development, in Jamaica. You know, Dr. Lecky and so on producing new strains of cattle that were resilient and appropriate for our climate producing high yields. So, you know, we have done it over the years, but I don't think agriculture has gotten the consistent policy and resource support that it deserves. In this era of high food insecurity and this era of climate change, the government and policy and the policy of the state must be to support farming in a very real way," he stressed.  

 

Mr. Golding was addressing the 127th annual general meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society on Wednesday.