CASSAVA was clearly not the sexiest product with which to promote a revolution in agriculture, but Christopher Tufton, despite the clunky articulation and the ribbing he endured, had the right idea. And if Dr Tufton's broad concept made sense in 2008, it has greater urgency now in the face of Jamaica's serious economic problems, the country's downgrade last week by the rating agency, Standard and Poor's and our imminent return to a borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is likely to bring with it stringent conditionalities.

The point is, these are tough times that are likely, in the near term, to become more difficult before they get better. One urgent issue confronting the Golding administration is what is to be done to cushion the worst effects of the crisis and to create a platform for sustained and sustainable economic recovery and job creation.

This newspaper believes, as we have argued several times in recent months, that agriculture provides both immediate and long-term opportunities that ought to be aggressively pursued. In that regard, some of Dr Tufton's recent initiatives to give a new impetus to agriculture are sensible and welcome.

Context

But some context is useful. Last year, the Jamaican economy declined by nearly two per cent. It will be a significant achievement, we feel, if the retreat in 2009 can be kept to the minus three per cent that was projected by the authorities. Indeed, in this year's first quarter, the value of goods and services produced in the country was, in real terms, down an estimated 2.8 per cent.

The first-quarter fall was broad-based, but the brunt of the pressure was felt in the mining sector which tumbled 28 per cent in the face of the near collapse of alumina production, with the closure of three of the four refineries because of the soft global demand for metals. Although these refineries, in the scheme of things, employed relatively few people, these were high-paying jobs that sustained many rural communities close to the plants. That fallout has been exacerbated by the double-digit tumble in remittances from Jamaicans abroad to relatives at home. The Government's treasury has also suffered.

In other words, rural communities have been hard hit and are in need of stablisation to slow or prevent the urban drift and its attendant social problems. Agriculture provides part of this answer, we believe.

Make agriculture attractive

But the Government has to do a number of things to make agriculture attractive to investors while, at the same time, doing things to lift its productivity and making it an exciting career option for young people. The recent move by Dr Tufton to put in place technocrats to spearhead reforms in staid, musty agencies is a move in the right direction, but is not sufficient.

Restrictive tariffs on some products, which are possible notwithstanding Jamaica's obligations under international trade agreements, must be pursued to lure investment and drive output so as to reduce the country's food-import bill which, last year, was an unsustainable US$800 million.

In an environment where the risk premium on investment in Jamaica is likely to rise, the Government must also look for new and creative ways to incentivise agricultural investment, including seriously debating the suggestion placed on the table by Dr Marshall Hall, the former chief executive of Producers Group.

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