Time to Revitalise Jamaica’s Dairy Industry
The Prime Minister ridiculously promised 60 000 jobs which all educated Jamaicans know is politicking or rather political wishful pandering.
With mining in the doldrums and no serious assistance to the private sector to exploit the more than abundant limestone, we find one critical sector to our health and nutrition neglected by government – the dairy industry.
Our milk and cheese needs cannot be overlooked but that sector is a disaster. With true unemployment ( inclusive of the thousands of vendors who cannot find anything else to do) nearing 30% and true ( NOT STATIN) youth unemployment nearing 50%, one would have thought that their would be more SERIOUS EFFORT towards agriculture including milk production.
A litre of UHT milk now costs roughly $300. For a developing country , two basic items should be affordable to the consumers – bread and milk. The government with its signing of international agreements have allowed imported milk by LASCO and others to be sold in this country while the dairy industry dies.
I cannot fathom why a sachet of LASCO instant milk should be sold to poor people at $170 retail, perhaps $150 at the Chinese haberdasheries. It is an affront to the nutritional needs of our people and our children will not be able to develop the brain power as is the situation in Cuba and in the developed world. I mention Cuba because while that island cannot provide fancy apartments, houses and consumer durables, milk, eggs and bread are available to its citizens. Our schools nutrition programme is a “sugar and carbohydrates thing” where school children receive sweet sugary cakes and buns and bag juice while milk is not issued.
When will there be a government policy to revitalise our dairy industry? When will I see cows grazing in pastures of Manchester, St. Elizabeth and the outlying areas of Claremont, Moneague, Brown’s Town and Alexandria as was common in the 70’s and 80’s. It is a national disgrace to know that apart from Seprod and Island dairies, no Jamaican business entities are involved in serious milk production.
It is more than time now that with the serious unemployment in the island , government takes action to deal with our calcium and protein needs. The time is now so I do hope those close to the Prime Minister will read this letter and at least influence Madam Prime Minister to do something about such an important industry. Lands are more than available. Central Jamaica is open pasture country. We have all the grazing lands available to meet the national demand of milk and cheese consumers .We have good grass, some varieties introduced since the 70’s so grass is not a problem.
It is time to act now and feed our people with local dairy product which is much healthier than imported goods for which there is a near monopoly or rather some oligopolistic merchants who are being made richer by importing stuff from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Sincerely
Maurice Christie
Aboukir , St. Ann
Email: [email protected]