JAMAICA | PNP calls on Agriculture Minister to reconsider the sale of the Agricultural Marketing Complex

Kingston, Jamaica. August 21, 2023: The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) says it notes with great concern, an advisory emanating from The Agro Investment Corporation indicating an intent to divest the Agricultural Marketing Corporation (A.M.C.) complex. 

Shadow minister of Agriculture and Water Mr. Lothan Cousins, in a media release said “the facilities within this complex have for decades supported the farmers of this country through inventory holding, both ambient and cold; sorting, grading, inspection and packaging of particularly export crops; and served as a distribution hub for farmers’ produce, supplying hotels, hospitals and large wholesale outlets.

Cousins said “the PNP is concerned that with post harvest losses climbing as high as forty percent (40%) for some crops, the Government deems it appropriate to divest itself from the very facility whose services reduce post harvest losses.”

“Of equal concern is the loss of a facility that supports exports. The Opposition recalls the Government’s stated intention to place greater emphasis on the variables that facilitate export. Indeed, the Portfolio Minister amplifies Export Expansion as a critical component of his ‘New Face of Food’ and yet one of the largest complexes facilitating exports is slated for divestment,” Cousins noted.

Indeed, several export companies use the facility to receive, sort, grade, inspect and package their produce for export.

The PNP wishes to remind the Government that the largest non-traditional export crop is yams and that most of the yams are prepared for export through the A.M.C. In the year 2022, the value of yams exported was U.S. $ 34.993 M. and that export value will be threatened by the divestment.

Of equal significance is the fact that yam production in 2022 represented approximately twenty-five percent (25%) of Jamaica’s total non-traditional production, and impacting the export marketing channel could seriously retard sales and leave farmers in a destitute state.

The Opposition PNP strongly urges the Government to re-think the divestment option. In fact, we advance the position that more agricultural complexes that offer appropriate storage, an efficient and responsive distribution system, and sorting and grading facilities should be built by the Government.

We believe that this will stimulate agriculture production and remove the bad experiences of glut and scarcity; reduce excessive produce assembly costs; lower high wholesale and retail margins; and temper high seasonal and geographic variation in prices.

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