Jamaican Till I Die!

The UK as a case study: In a previous blog post, I expressed my admiration for the relationship people living in the English countryside have for locally produced foods and their local village high street. Based on my experience people in the countryside support their local industry simply because they take great pride in their community, in their environment and the things they consume. Some would immediately tell you about the importance of reducing food mileage to the environment and that the eggs they had for breakfast was sourced from the local farm shop whose farm is just down the road. What I also like about the village high street is how local shops displays with pride the goods they have for sale with full details about the source of these goods. They take pride in the fact that what they have for sale was sourced locally, as they display the name of the farms, farmers and location where the food comes from, traceability is key, for example one would see signs sayin...

I am a massive advocate of the “Consume what you Produce and Produce what you Consume” principle, especially with regards to agricultural and food production. I think a country like Jamaica should get most of what it consumes from local sources and only import the things it needs, not want and that are required for the production process. This principle also affords us greater control over our food supply as it allows maximum control over the entire process from the farms to the processing plants and finally to our tables. Events taking place in the United Kingdom have only served to support my argument even more, the British woke up to find out that the beef they thought they were consuming was in fact horse meat and in some reports donkey meat have also entered the food chain. It also seemed that finding out what was in the food was the easy part but trying to locate the source or sources of the contamination was another matter altogether, they are still trying to follow that...

In January of 2010 the IMF announced that its was in agreement with the Government of Jamaica for a bailout loan of US$1.2 Billion under a 27-month Stand-By Arrangement. By 2011 Jamaica’s IMF agreement derailed as Jamaica did not sit the review test for quarters ending December, June and September and the IMF has said it would not go to its board until Jamaica is able to get the programme back on track, as such Jamaica was unable to drawn down any more money from the fund. Under the 27-month agreement with the IMF, Jamaica had agreed to reduce the public-sector wage bill from 11.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 9.5 per cent of GDP. Prime Minister Bruce Golding told Parliament that the requirement could lead to approximately 10,000 job cuts, which I think was a conservative estimate as some experts predicted close to 30,000. The IMF declared that Jamaica has not been moving fast enough to affect necessary reforms under the 27-month standby arrangement and so they...