Cattle festival was at risk

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

THOUGH THE 13th staging of the annual Minard Livestock Show and Beef Festival on Friday, November 11 turned out to be a success, according to Henry Rainford, CEO and chairman of the Jamaica Livestock Association, but it almost did not happen.

"I would have loved to have seen more cattle displayed, more farmers, but it was very good. A lot of children attended, as they did the year before and the year before," he told The Gleaner.

However, when pressed, Rainford admitted that the agriculture ministry's failure to follow through with its usual financial support almost derailed the event.

"The Government didn't have any money to contribute towards the holding of the show. It has always been a struggle, but this year was worse in terms of government support. It was at risk, as a result," Rainford admitted.

The JLA is the main sponsor for the event, hosted in collaboration with Agro-Investment Corporation, a division of the ministry.

When contacted, the corporation advised the JLA that it had not made provisions in its budget for the show. With the show in danger, the ministry saved the day with an eleventh-hour loan in the region of $500,000.

"We were able to pull it off," the JLA chairman explained. "They did give a loan, which is being repaid to them. We had sponsors and a little money left back from previous shows."

State minister for agriculture, J.C. Hutchinson, in his address at the festival, stressed the importance and interdependence of the livestock industry and other sectors of the economy. The minister also went on to highlight the $35 million in low-interest loans targeted at the resuscitation of some 184 hectares of pasture and procurement of dairy livestock during the last financial year.

Among the Government's boasts were $140 million allocated from the capital budget for the Dairy Sector Revitalisation Programme over the last two years; and $62 million in loans to 36 beef and dairy farmers to assist in the development of pastures, acquisition of breeding stock and upgrading of farming equipment and general infrastructure.

"In order for the revitalisation programme to have any chance of success, it must have the cooperation, commitment and active support of the sector's stakeholders," Hutchinson appealed.

"The plans that we are putting in place will not immediately turn around your financial bottom line but we hope we will slowly get traction as confidence builds."

Self-sufficiency in beef fell from above 70 per cent in 1992 to 39 per cent in 2007. Milk production also slumped from 29 per cent in 1992 to less than 10 per cent currently.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com