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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : # Jamaica braces for higher food import bills ( Gleaner )...</span>
AS THE price of food on the world market jumped to a fresh high last month and is expected to continue climbing, Agriculture Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, is expressing optimism that with the right combination of strategies, Jamaica, which relies heavily on imported grains, can insulate itself from the expected hike on imports."There is no doubt that the rising food prices will have implications for us, but if we redouble our efforts to produce even more, we can reduce our vulnerability to this," Dr Tufton said, responding to questions from The Sunday Gleaner.While domestic crop production increased by over 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the corresponding period in 2009, (Ministry Quarterly Report), the minister said this was not enough."Our local feed stocks are likely to be adversely affected, so we need to make that push to apply technology to our marginal lands and use them productively," he stressed.In his quarterly report on crop production islandwide, Minister Tufton said he "intends to continue the aggressive import substitution strategy, accompanied by greater push for regional and international exports of not only primary products, but with greater emphasis on the creation and export of value-added products".The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reported that for the last seven consecutive month, peaking in January, The Food Price Index, which measures the wholesale price of basic foods within a basket, has been moving steadily upwards."These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come," FAO economist, Abdolreza Abrasion said.The index is now at its highest level since the FAO started the measure in 1990, and higher than June 2008 when the cost of food sparked violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt.imminent riseApart from meat, the individual group components of the index all registered rises in January, with the Cereal Price Index averaging 245 points. This signals an imminent rise in wheat and grain, according to an Associated Press article.The article further stated that rises were particularly high for dairy products, up 6.2 per cent from December, driven by a combination of lower supply and increasing demand in emerging economies such as China and India.The high price of food is thought to have been a factor in recent political unrest in both Algeria and Tunisia in the form of anti-government demonstrations, protests which have spread to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.In the meantime, World Bank President Robert Zoellick has asked global leaders to "put food first" and tackle the problem of price volatility."We are going to be facing a broader trend of increasing commodity prices, including food-commodity prices," he said.http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...76326875743875
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : # Jamaica braces for higher food import bills ( Gleaner )...</span>
AS THE price of food on the world market jumped to a fresh high last month and is expected to continue climbing, Agriculture Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, is expressing optimism that with the right combination of strategies, Jamaica, which relies heavily on imported grains, can insulate itself from the expected hike on imports."There is no doubt that the rising food prices will have implications for us, but if we redouble our efforts to produce even more, we can reduce our vulnerability to this," Dr Tufton said, responding to questions from The Sunday Gleaner.While domestic crop production increased by over 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the corresponding period in 2009, (Ministry Quarterly Report), the minister said this was not enough."Our local feed stocks are likely to be adversely affected, so we need to make that push to apply technology to our marginal lands and use them productively," he stressed.In his quarterly report on crop production islandwide, Minister Tufton said he "intends to continue the aggressive import substitution strategy, accompanied by greater push for regional and international exports of not only primary products, but with greater emphasis on the creation and export of value-added products".The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reported that for the last seven consecutive month, peaking in January, The Food Price Index, which measures the wholesale price of basic foods within a basket, has been moving steadily upwards."These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come," FAO economist, Abdolreza Abrasion said.The index is now at its highest level since the FAO started the measure in 1990, and higher than June 2008 when the cost of food sparked violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt.imminent riseApart from meat, the individual group components of the index all registered rises in January, with the Cereal Price Index averaging 245 points. This signals an imminent rise in wheat and grain, according to an Associated Press article.The article further stated that rises were particularly high for dairy products, up 6.2 per cent from December, driven by a combination of lower supply and increasing demand in emerging economies such as China and India.The high price of food is thought to have been a factor in recent political unrest in both Algeria and Tunisia in the form of anti-government demonstrations, protests which have spread to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.In the meantime, World Bank President Robert Zoellick has asked global leaders to "put food first" and tackle the problem of price volatility."We are going to be facing a broader trend of increasing commodity prices, including food-commodity prices," he said.http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...76326875743875