Dear Editor,
Jamaica, like almost all Caribbean countries, does not produce enough food to feed the local population. Yet the shortage of locally produced food is not the result of land scarcity. Land, if not abundant, is available. The food shortage stems from a manifest lack of political will. Moreover, farming is not seen as an attractive option for most Jamaicans.
This is a pity. Farming need not be considered an especially demanding occupation. With a change in attitude it could even become a quite remunerative form of food self-sufficiency. So how does Jamaica reverse the strong antipathy toward farming?
One way is for the government to develop and support a major reform in agriculture. Farming should be considered not only a rural pursuit but also an urban activity. Indeed, the government should begin to see farming as a total islandwide operation.
Urban farming is not a novel concept. It has been around for a very long time. But more recently it has been practised successfully in Curitiba, Brazil and in Alamar, Cuba.
The Curitiba experiment began in the early 1970s when then mayor Jaime Lerner began the transformation of the city of Curitiba. He established the first university of the environment and insisted that the city would increase its open space and environmental footprint. Not only did the city increase green space from less than 20 per cent to more than 70 per cent of the city area, but he also forced urban residents to take up the cultivation of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Each household was required to grow a specific crop determined by the city needs. The policies made Curitiba a model city.
During the special crisis of the 1990s in Cuba, the government encouraged urban dwellers to move to the countryside and set up small cooperative farms for their self-sustenance. The government promised to help them with seeds, land, fertilisers, machinery and technical know-how. By 2000 more than 200 such enterprises were in existence.
The most successful was perhaps the Organopónico Vivero Alamar, an agricultural cooperative a few miles east of Havana. Started on a small urban lot in 1997 by five enterprising individuals with the modest goal to feed their families, by 2012 the farm had spread to a complex operation on almost 30 acres of land leased from the government and worked by more than 60 farmers, more than a third of whom hold university degrees. The cooperative produces a range of organically grown items for the Havana market, with its lead sellers being lettuce, peppermint, and seedlings for other farmers.
Jamaica could adapt either the Brazilian or the Cuban model in order to create a self-sustaining, economical and attractive method of feeding its own people as well as supplying the needs of its hotels and cruise ships.
Franklin W Knight
Baltimore, Maryland
USA
Getting serious about food production
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Jamaica, like almost all Caribbean countries, does not produce enough food to feed the local population. Yet the shortage of locally produced food is not the result of land scarcity. Land, if not abundant, is available. The food shortage stems from a manifest lack of political will. Moreover, farming is not seen as an attractive option for most Jamaicans.
This is a pity. Farming need not be considered an especially demanding occupation. With a change in attitude it could even become a quite remunerative form of food self-sufficiency. So how does Jamaica reverse the strong antipathy toward farming?
One way is for the government to develop and support a major reform in agriculture. Farming should be considered not only a rural pursuit but also an urban activity. Indeed, the government should begin to see farming as a total islandwide operation.
Urban farming is not a novel concept. It has been around for a very long time. But more recently it has been practised successfully in Curitiba, Brazil and in Alamar, Cuba.
The Curitiba experiment began in the early 1970s when then mayor Jaime Lerner began the transformation of the city of Curitiba. He established the first university of the environment and insisted that the city would increase its open space and environmental footprint. Not only did the city increase green space from less than 20 per cent to more than 70 per cent of the city area, but he also forced urban residents to take up the cultivation of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Each household was required to grow a specific crop determined by the city needs. The policies made Curitiba a model city.
During the special crisis of the 1990s in Cuba, the government encouraged urban dwellers to move to the countryside and set up small cooperative farms for their self-sustenance. The government promised to help them with seeds, land, fertilisers, machinery and technical know-how. By 2000 more than 200 such enterprises were in existence.
The most successful was perhaps the Organopónico Vivero Alamar, an agricultural cooperative a few miles east of Havana. Started on a small urban lot in 1997 by five enterprising individuals with the modest goal to feed their families, by 2012 the farm had spread to a complex operation on almost 30 acres of land leased from the government and worked by more than 60 farmers, more than a third of whom hold university degrees. The cooperative produces a range of organically grown items for the Havana market, with its lead sellers being lettuce, peppermint, and seedlings for other farmers.
Jamaica could adapt either the Brazilian or the Cuban model in order to create a self-sustaining, economical and attractive method of feeding its own people as well as supplying the needs of its hotels and cruise ships.
Franklin W Knight
Baltimore, Maryland
USA
Getting serious about food production
-->