Minister contradicting himself

Dear Editor,

On Tuesday, April 9, 2013, the minister of agriculture, Roger Clarke, in his answers to questions I asked, stated in Parliament that the decline in the production of Irish potatoes in South St Elizabeth was because of the farmers getting bad seeds to plant. He said table potatoes were distributed under the JLP Government.

This statement contradicts his budget presentation of May 30, 2012 in which he said, and I quote, "let me briefly address the matter of Irish potato. As we speak, we are experiencing a bumper crop not seen in the last two decades. In fact, production has been increasing sharply since 2008 from 4,929 tons to 15,333 tons in 2011. It is the expectation that the 2012 crop will exceed last year's production".

Let me remind the nation that in 1995 the production of potatoes was 17,036 tons, and under the minister's watch there was the steady decline to 4,929 tons. In 2008, under the JLP Administration, it took only three years to increase the production back to the levels that it was in 1995.

This minister has either been misinformed or...

JC Hutchinson

Shadow spokesman on agriculture

Minister contradicting himself

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