The Role and Importance of Agriculture In the Carribean. Organisations involved in its development. The role of soils and plant types.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE CARIBBEAN

Foreign exchange

Contribution to GDP/GNP

Food security

Employment

            Environmental management

CONSTRAINTS AFFECTING CARIBBEAN AGRICULTURE

Climate

Topography

Appropriate Technology

Rural Infrastructure

Land Tenure and Fragmentation

Credit Facilities

Marketing Facilities

Extension Services

Praedial Larceny

CLASSIFICATION OF CARIBBEAN FARMS

Distinguishing Features of Farmers (According to Size)

Large Farms

Medium Sized Farms

Small Farms

Distinguishing Features of Farms (According to Produce)

Crops Farm

Livestock

Monoculture/Mono-cropping

Mixed Cropping

Mixed Farming

 Organic Farming

Agro-Forestry

Integrated Farm

INSTITUTIONS WHICH SUPPORT LOCAL AND REGIONAL AGRICULTURAL

Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA)

Bodles Research Station:

Jamaica Livestoc Association (J.L.A.)

 Jamaica Agricultural Society (J.A. S.):  

Scientific Research Council (SRC

Sugar Industry Research Institute (SIRI)

Caribbean Community

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)

Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI )

Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI)

University of the West Indies (UWI)

College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE)

Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA)

Food and Agriculture Organization (F AO)

Organization of American States (OAS)

Inter-American Development Bank (I.D.B.)

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Caribbean Basin Initiative (C.B.I)

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

European Union (EU)

INTRODUCTION TO SOIL SCIENCE

Functions of Soil in our Environment

Soil Formation

Weathering

Soil formation factors

Soil Profile

Physical Properties of soils

Soil texture
Soil Structure

Porosity

BULK DENSITY

SOIL COLOUR

SOIL WATER

Importance of soil Organic Matter

Chemical Properties of the soil

Soil pH

Plant nutrients

HOW THE SOIL HOLD PLANT NUTRIENTS?

MANAGING SOIL FERTILITY

FERTILIZERS

Advantages of organic fertilizers

Disadvantages of organic fertilizers

Inorganic fertilizers

Fertilizer grade

Advantages of inorganic fertilizers

Disadvantages of inorganic fertilizers

Practical activity

Identifying types of fertilizers

Methods of applying fertilizer

Importance of plant sexual reproduction in agriculture

The flower

Pollination

Types of pollinations

Self pollination

Cross pollination

Fertilizatio


ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE CARIBBEAN

Foreign exchange

The agriculture sector earns foreign exchange by exporting traditional and non-traditional products. In addition to earning foreign exchange, the agriculture sector may also produce food and raw material for local consumption; this reduces the need to import similar products, resulting in the saving of foreign exchange.

The foreign exchange earned and saved is used to purchase other goods and services which the country needs/want but does not produce. Imported products must be purchased using foreign exchange. In addition to trading, foreign exchange is also used to repay international debt.

Contribution to GDP/GNP

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT – GDP

GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT – GNP

GDP and GNP are means of measuring the national income of a country. The GDP measures the value of goods and services produced locally, in a given period. The GNP is determined by adding the value of goods and services produced in a country (GDP) and also what is earned abroad and returned to the country, in a given period.  

GDP = AGRICULTURE + TOURISM + MINING + MANUFACTURING etc.

GNP = AGRICULTURE + TOURISM + MINING + MANUFACTURING etc. + EARNINGS FROM ABROAD

Agriculture contributes to the overall wealth of a country by contributing to GNP and GDP. As the contribution from agriculture and other sectors increases the wealthier the country becomes. This means more funding will be available to improve infrastructure and services such as roads, education and health. The Jamaican agriculture sector contributes about seven percent to GDP, only tourism contributes more.

Food security

Food security is concerned with the availability of adequate supply of food and access to the food by all the citizens of a country. Food security exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences. Food security can be affected by;

  • Availability or access to arable lands for agriculture
  • Technology used
  • Climatic conditions
  • Conflicts
  • Ability to import food
  • Poverty

FOOD SECURITY = ADEQUATE FOOD SUPPLY   + ACCESS TO FOOD BY ALL

Employment

Agriculture is a major source of employment in the rural areas of most Caribbean countries. Therefore, agriculture is the primary means of promoting rural development and reducing rural to urban migration and its consequence urban decay.

Employment in agriculture ranges from unskilled workers to highly trained professionals such as an agronomist or an agricultural engineer. Also, agriculture offers direct employment for example a broiler farm

                

or an extension officer. There is also indirect employment in down streams. Down streams industries, such as food processing, generally use agricultural products as raw materials to produce value added products or manufacture new products. Supermarkets, financial institutions and businesses benefit from the earnings of individuals involved in agriculture.

Environmental management

Through agricultural activities man interacts with the environment. The effects of this interaction may be positive or negative.

Since agriculture depends on the natural resources, the goal of all persons who benefit directly and in directly from agriculture should be to promote the use of agricultural practices that are environmentally friendly.

CONSTRAINTS AFFECTING CARIBBEAN AGRICULTURE

Climate

The major areas of consideration are: temperature and rainfall.

The climate of the Caribbean is the tropical marine climate; therefore it is warm and moist. The combination of warmth and moisture create ideal conditions for many pests and diseases that affect both crops and livestock. Also, the high temperatures make it more difficult to successfully rear some breeds of livestock in the Caribbean, especially those which originate in temperate areas such as Europe.

                     

Topography

Topography refers to the relief or the shape of the land. The topography of most Caribbean islands is hilly in the interior with most of the flat land near the coast. The limited flat land is generally used for housing and settlements, manufacturing industries and plantation type agriculture e.g. sugar cane. Steep slopes affect farming by:

  • Limiting access to farm plots
  • Restrict the use of farm machines
  • Increase the risk of soil erosion

Appropriate Technology

Technology: the use of tools, machinery and knowledge and to complete tasks.

Increasing production in agriculture is linked to the use of modern technology e.g. tractors, hybrid seeds, and efficient irrigation systems.

Appropriate technology refers to the use of tools, machinery and knowledge which is suited for local conditions or a specific area or condition. Technology should be appropriate to the economic status of the farmer, farm size, climate and level of education etc. Appropriateness technology for small farmers can be judged using the characteristics shown below;

  • Simple                                        
  • Low maintenance                      
  • Locally made                            
  • Access to spare parts  
  • Easy to operate                                                
  • Affordable
  • Small/compact                                                

         

Rural Infrastructure

The farm family needs to have access to basic amenities for both agricultural and domestic activities. If rural areas are not provided with some of the basic infrastructural needs, farmers will not be very productive; also the business of farming may become less attractive or no longer feasible to the farm family.

Some of the basic infrastructure includes:

  • Electricity
  • Water supply
  • Proper roads
  • Telephone
  • Health care
  • Schools

Land Tenure and Fragmentation

Land tenure speaks to the ownership of land. Most small farmers do not own their own land or own very small fragmented plots usually in hilly areas. When farmers do not own their own land, they are not motivated to develop the land or put permanent structures on the land.

Land fragmentation occurs as land is divided among family members from generation to generation. The land is divided into numerous plots and not all the plots are generally used for agricultural production but for other purposed such as housing.

Credit Facilities

As with other types of businesses it is often very necessary to borrow money from lending institutions to start, expand or acquire assts for an agricultural enterprise. Because farming is considered to be a high risk business, institutions are not very willing to lend money for agriculture. Very often farmers complain that the cost of borrowing money (interest rate) is too high; while the price of the products they produce is relatively low. Some farmers will experience difficulty accessing loans because they lack suitable collateral such as land. Collateral is material of value used to cover the cost of the loan in the even that the borrower is unable to pay.

Marketing Facilities

Marketing involves bringing the producer and the consumer together. Marketing also includes transporting, pricing, packaging, storage and advertising.

Farmers in Jamaica experience difficulty in selling their produce due to:

  • A lack of properly organized systems to bring buyers and sellers together i.e. buyers are not aware of what farmers are producing and farmers are not fully aware of the needs of buyers.
  • Competition from imported agricultural products

Extension Services

Although there is an increasing number of professionals now operating farming enterprises, most Jamaican farmers are relatively old and have only basic education (grade 9). Therefore there is need to give these farmers constant and individual help to improve their agricultural knowledge. Extension officers provide a vital link between the farmer and the researcher that develop modern farming technology and solutions for on the farm problems. The economic constraints being experienced in Jamaica have resulted in the reduction in the size of the extension service.

Praedial Larceny

Nothing is more discouraging to a farmer than the theft of his produce.

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CLASSIFICATION OF CARIBBEAN FARMS

Farms are classified according to size and what they produce.

Distinguishing Features of Farmers (According to Size)

Large Farms

Large farms occupy more than 25 hectares, mainly produce one crop or type of livestock and are geared for export. These farms are operated and managed by individuals, co- operations or government and in some cases absentee owners. They employ a skilled labour force as well as semi-skilled and unskilled workers. They farms tend to be highly mechanized or in some cases little mechanization is used but instead ...

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