Jamaican Agri-business, A Great Investment Opportunity

On Tuesday evening, I got the distinct privilege of being a remote fly on the wall at the agri-business seminar held in the Jamaican Consulate in New York City. I am indebted to the graciousness of Hon. Geneive Brown Metzger, Consul General, and the technical wizardry of Mr. Aubrey Campbell of the Jamaica Information Service in making this possible. My commenting on farming issues is most important to me, but details regarding that will have to wait for another post.

Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and a high powered team was in the Big Apple to share the exciting happening in the farming sector of Jamaica.  Here is my take on his presentation.

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For the past generation, this segment of Jamaican life has languished at the margins, and was not considered a core element of a developing nation. Our taste buds have also lusted after foreign foods that we are a net importer of food products!   However, the recent wild gyration in food commodity prices provided a rude awakening. For example, corn prices went up 100% in a matter of months. This had a chilling, and rippling effect throughout the economy, from chicken feed and other goods. Suddenly, food security became a central concern. We began to understand why developed nations subsidize their farmers. They or we cannot afford to put at risk and expose the stomachs of our people to the whims of external forces.

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We however needed to develop a program beyond subsidy, and revive a farm game plan that would:

Raise up a new generation of farmers with an agri- entrepreneur emphasis.

Profile our land for soil and irrigation matching to field crop or live stock development. Develop a database to keep permanent record of such needed profiling, and Include hurricane season implication in planning.

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Move from a splintered farm system to one where scalability and competitive economics is possible.

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Give farmers the knowledge of the various market places they are serving, and the where with all to  win customer mind share.

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Further develop an agri-processor infrastructure to add additional value point in the value chain. Have strategically placed processors ready to serve the farmers.

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Segment the product offerings and realize premium profits for the top grade produce.

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Provide and facilitate needed capitalization of the farm system to give it long term sustainability. Provide real and attractive investment possibilities for members of the Diaspora.

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Develop the human resources through a robust extension program.  300 new farmers between the age of 20 – 30 are now on board.

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Provide the marketing horse power to communicate and maintain the Jamaican brand. How else are we going to capture our share of the growing ethnic food marketplace?

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I came away very encouraged as to the scope and comprehensiveness of this blueprint.  The results after 18 months are impressive.  The high degree of professionalism and accountability is very evident, as this blue print is not a seat of the pants approach, but one that is based on research and a systematic implementation.

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It was reported that agriculture achieved a 13% growth in the last quarter!

Sure tourism held it’s own, but the heavy discounts given  to attract recession depleted consumers is not sustainable.

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Farming is indeed on its way back, and is worthy of our pocket investment.

The Friday Chicken Foot Stock Index

Thank God it’s Friday has taken on new meaning for you!

With a momentary sense of relief you amend this statement to say

“Thank God it’s Friday and I still have a job!”

You did not hear that kiss of death phrase, “The boss wants to see you”.

“How do I become my boss’s MVP?” haunts your mind, but that self discussion is for another day.

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Have to call Marge to see how she is doing with her job hunting this week.   Poor chile, last week, she got pre-fired. (Job disappears before one formally applies)

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As you head home you remember the cupboard is empty so you stop by the supermarket to pick up a few items.The kids have been complaining about all the Chinese noodle soup you have been having lately.  You need to switch it up some.You pass the meat counter and just keep going to the can food section.  You pick up a half a dozen cans of Spam, the new bully beef.

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You then pass by the price for quick sale table and see that Jancrow has been there already.Your cell phone rings at it is Roy, your husband.  He is calling to see if he can have the guys over on Saturday night for a game of dominoes.

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You kiss your teet and ask him why the game is always at your house before you hang up.You decide to swing back by the meat counter to see if there is anything on sale worth considering, and then a special visual crystallization takes place.

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All of a sudden these two items seem to jump out of the crushed ice bed in the display; chicken back, and chicken foot. 

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Your nutritional brain becomes engaged, and rule out the back due to its high fat content.  Your brain is also stretched to count off all the myriad of meal options that can be created with the foot- soup, curry, —.

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The story above was written by my marketing mind that placed myself in the mocassins of a Jamaican consumer. (Let me know if you think I am smoking some of that Latin lettuce).

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Other food companies have been wondering about the cash-strapped consumer and providing solutions to attract them to their product. For example, the graph below shows a marketing correlation between tuna-noodle casserole and the Dow index.

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The casserole is making a big comeback as it is cheap, and easy to prepare.  Campbells Soup have also noted that 7 of the top 10 recipes are for casseroles.

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Well, I have not decided to become a food blogger, but was interested in :

what innovations at the grocery store are you making to stretch the food dollar?

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I want to give someone 

The lemmonade maker of the month award.

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Maybe

 will listen to you too, who knows….