Thread by @MarkJGolding

The pandemic has shown that our economy must be made more resilient to external shocks. Disrupted global supply chains, & geo-political upheavals, have made key agricultural inputs unaffordable. #BudgetDebate2022

Our food security must be high on the agenda. This entails a robust agricultural policy.
We must improve farm roads, irrigation and storage systems.
We must encourage greater flows of capital into agro-processing.
#BudgetDebate2022

We must assist exporters to penetrate new markets and protect our valuable national brands.
We must incentivize productive relationships between well-capitalized mother facilities and small farmers. #BudgetDebate2022

This will improve their production techniques, transfer technology to them, and support their development.
I endorse what MP Julian Robinson said last Thursday about tackling praedial larceny. #BudgetDebate2022

Organized crime is involved in stealing livestock from local farmers and taking it to Haiti to purchase guns, which are brought back here.
#BudgetDebate2022

The penalties for praedial larceny must be steep. It must be brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act, so that the criminals’ profits from robbing our farmers are taken from them, and used to compensate the farmers.
#BudgetDebate2022

Jamaica must become the agricultural powerhouse of the Caribbean. I note that Caricom is promoting an increase in regional trade, with an emphasis on food security. Jamaica can and should lead the way in achieving this, as part of building the Jamaican Dream.
#BudgetDebate2022

There has been talk about issuing permits for imported chicken parts as a response to the rising price of locally-grown chicken. This has been caused by the spike in the cost of inputs, especially feed, not a shortage of supply.
#BudgetDebate2022

Imported chicken receives massive subsidies from foreign Govts. Importation, when there is no shortage of local supply, will unleash unfair competition against the local industry. This industry includes many thousands of backyard growers, who depend on it for their livelihoods.

Undermining local producers cannot be good policy.
Rather than giving up revenue by allowing imports which will unfairly compete with thousands of small farmers, give our farmers a break on their input prices, to make locally grown produce more affordable to consumers.

The announced incentive of $50 million for fertilizer won’t move the needle. I am calling on the Government to provide our farmers with meaningful subsidies that will reduce the cost of fertilizer, seeds and feed, for the duration of the current spike in food price inflation.

This can be managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Consumer Affairs Commission, with the aid of the public, to ensure that the benefit of the subsidies is passed through to consumers.
#BudgetDebate2022