Government sources more affordable fertilizer

The announcement was made this afternoon (August 3) by Prime Minister Bruce Golding as he addressed the third and final day of the 2008 Denbigh show at the Denbigh Industrial and Agricultural show ground in May Pen, Clarendon.

Mr Golding said the Government will be importing the fertilizer and that it would be made available through the regular distributors. “ We are not seeking to take over the market… and even after allowance is made for the distributors’ and retailers’ margins, we are satisfied that the farmer will be able to buy a bag of fertilizer at a significantly reduced price”.

He said the Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda, will be re-activating the Jamaica Commodity Trading Company to undertake the importation.

Mr Golding said the greatest hindrance which farmers have had to face this year has been the significant increase in the price of fertilizer. He said when his Government came to office in September of 2007, the price of a bag of fertilizer was $2,500. The cost is now $6,000 even after the Government removed the 5-percent duty on the importation of raw materials. Mr Golding noted that to date he has not been given a satisfactory or convincing explanation for the huge increase.

He said that against the background of rising food prices, Jamaican farmers were offered an opportunity and the nation was called upon to ‘grow what we eat and eat what we grow’. He said the farmers responded but many had to watch their plants struggle because they could not afford to buy the fertilizer their plants needed.

Mr Golding said Government had been agonizing about the price increase and so the Ministers of Agriculture and Industry and Investment, were instructed to scour the markets to find cheaper sources of fertilizer.

“They have been working feverishly…. and I am now in a position to announce that we have identified a source of fertilizer that will enable us to land it here and get it into the hands of the farmers at substantially reduced price when compared to the price they now have to pay’, Mr Golding announced.

He called on Jamaican farmers not to be discouraged as help is on the way.