IDENTIFYING ALTERNATIVES
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
October 10, 2003
Since last Monday a number of leading officials, including Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ministers, technical experts and agriculturalists, have been engaged in what could well be the most important of all the regional agricultural conferences that have been held over the years.
Traditionally (since the early 1990s), October has been designated Agriculture Month. However, for 2003 the keynote event under the theme 'Guyana Alliance Against Hunger' has been coupled with the broader National Exhibition and Trade Fair, which brings together non-agrarian investors and private sector leaders in freight handling, service provision and the processing sector.
This combination of traditional business and non-traditional operators as well as manufacturers in an important way reflects the kind of expectancy associated with Guyana. President Jagdeo continues to serve as CARICOM's chairperson and main spokesman on agricultural issues.
At the same level Minister of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock Satydeoow Sawh's repeated exhortation that "millions of people worldwide go to bed hungry every night because of poverty", evidently has had an appreciable impact. Mr. Sawh, who is also acting as Minister of Agriculture, stated, during the course of his presentations to the regional workshop that launched Agriculture Month activities, that Guyana imports about $US38 million annually.
His Jamaican counterpart Mr. Roger Clark spoke along similar lines and obviously was expressing the view of Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, who together with Prime Minister Owen Arthur and President Jagdeo has been prominent in ensuring that political endorsement of the regional (or moreso, Single Market and Economy) position on agro-industry in terms of representation.
It is therefore highly significant that the Guyanese leader is prepared to identify specific problem areas such as the RNM (Regional Negotiation Machinery) and the differentia superimposed by "lobby groups" concerned with objectives that may not be supportive of the integrative consensus.
Immediately after the Nassau Summit (2002) President Jagdeo expressed his disenchantment with the rhetorical approach per se. His September 26 (2003) address to the 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly debate also revealed the depth and coherence of an outlook that was representative both of Guyana's immediate concerns and those of CARICOM.
Globalization and neo-liberalization, including the controversial and class struggle laden GMFC (Genetically Modified Food Crops) proposals of the giant seed and agro-chemical companies, have wreaked havoc in almost the entire developing world where depressed prices and "protected market" procedures (U.S. farm subsidies as well as Euro Union expansion - formalizing ten new members states and corresponding regulatory reform criteria) have impacted upon the real earnings of poor farmers.
This group of producers includes banana and citrus farmers in the Eastern Caribbean, sisal and jute cultivators in East Africa, and coffee farmers in Mexico, Colombia, Kenya and Nicaragua. It is estimated that 25 million families are directly affected by the global coffee crisis. These include part-time and permanent producers.
The fact that this historically unprecedented crisis has resulted from a glut, mainly from the dramatic upsurge in coffee been production in Vietnam entering the market, only reinforces the urgency for regional collaboration.
Guyana with its relatively large arable land as a factor has demonstrated how it is possible to focus on tropical export production and to embark on a dynamic investment programme for and in the commodities market.
GO-INVEST CEO Geoff DaSilva remains upbeat about the prospects for private sector expansion specific to the regional and Diaspora sectors. Concretely, however, the alternatives to low or marginal growth must be sought in partnerships that make economic sense, in multilateral agreements that build (or take off from) the reform and structural reconstruction process.
Already there are indications that countries such as India, South Africa, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba are prepared to take the kind of initiatives that can bring sustainable benefits for the mainstream and non-traditional producers. Guyana will undoubtedly have a visible interest in these developing trends and movements.