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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
DIALOGUE
In this section:
Mission of the Month: Jamaica
Notes from Tobias
Mission of the Month: Jamaica
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Jervis Rowe is one of the Jamaican farmers benefiting
from the island’s first 11 greenhouses built with
U.S. assistance.
Kimberly Flowers, USAID/Jamaica |
Challenge
Situated in the heart of the hurricane zone in the Caribbean,
Jamaica is vulnerable to natural disasters. Just two years
ago Hurricane Ivan pounded the south coast of Jamaica with
heavy rains and strong winds, leaving behind $580 million
in damages.
Out of Jamaica’s 1.2 million labor force, 20 percent
are in the agriculture sector. Many farmers, especially those
in the southern part of the island, lost all their crops and
equipment during the hurricane. Significant losses were recorded
in domestic production of fruits and vegetables.
Saddled with much external and domestic debt as well as
high unemployment, Jamaica was unable to cope with the additional
challenges of hurricane recovery, including providing support
to its farmers.
Innovative Response
USAID quickly responded to the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan
with a one-year, $18 million recovery program that emphasized
“building back better.” Working with the Jamaican
government, houses, schools, community centers, and businesses
were rebuilt using construction techniques that make buildings
more resistant to storms.
One effort under the program provided technical assistance,
training, grants, and new technology to restore businesses
affected by the storm to pre-hurricane production levels or
better. It also erected 11 greenhouses—the first ever
of their type constructed in Jamaica—at demonstration
farms across the island to jumpstart fruit and vegetable production
and provide better crop protection. Up to 1,500 better quality
plants can be grown in a greenhouse of 600 square meters,
averaging gross sales of $13,000 for a single crop.
The field demonstration farms are also serving as training
sites to illustrate to other nearby farmers the advantages
of greenhouse technology in producing high-value crops. The
growers are required to contribute to the cost of land preparation,
as well as labor for building the greenhouses and for plant
support systems.
While greenhouse production costs more in the beginning,
it has minimal costs for controlling weeds and pests and provides
higher yields per acre than crops planted in an open field.
The $7,500 greenhouses are made of lumber, with plastic
roofing and antiviral netting on the sides. The plastic roof
reflects ultraviolet rays, increasing the metabolic efficiency
of the plants, and channels infrared rays out of the greenhouse.
The antiviral netting reduces problems with pests, viruses,
and diseases.
The greenhouses also use drip-irrigation systems, which
reduce water use by 40 percent or more and provide improved,
more-efficient fertilization of crops and easier pest and
disease management.
Results
Jervis Rowe from Manchester, Jamaica, one of the farmers
benefiting from the greenhouse technology, is harvesting an
increased crop of tomatoes, healthier than ever before.
“Growing in the greenhouse produces healthier products,
and the use of chemicals is almost negligible. I can now provide
vine-ripe tomatoes to the consumer that have a better flavor
and appearance. The fruit is reaped fully mature, so it goes
from farm directly to the consumer,” Rowe said.
His first greenhouse crop is expected to be 15,000 pounds.
He anticipates getting about 10 pounds of fruit from each
plant—a yield significantly higher than tomatoes grown
in the open field, where the average yield is 3 or 4 pounds
per plant.
“The greenhouses are giving some growers production
yields nearly four times greater than open field production,”
said Vicki Johnson, director of the Office of Economic Growth
for USAID/Jamaica.
Other farmers involved in the project are following Rowe’s
example, reaping and marketing crops of tomatoes, sweet peppers,
and lettuce of superior size, color, and shape, and taking
advantage of high-end marketing opportunities in special markets,
such as supermarkets, hotels, and catering companies.
Many new farmers are now requesting help in starting greenhouse
operations, while some of the current farmers in the program
have already begun investing in their second greenhouse. The
greenhouse growers have also formed a marketing alliance.
Private partnerships that formed as part of the program
are expected to continue. For example, an entire new market
opened for the local company, Jamaica Drip, and farmers are
continuing to use and promote the drip irrigation system technology.
USAID anticipates continuing similar work in future economic
growth and environmental projects to reach more farmers across
the island as funding is available.
Notes from Tobias
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Administrator Randall Tobias
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Greetings to the employees, partners, and friends of USAID.
As I began my work in 2003 as the first coordinator for the
President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, I observed
first-hand the commitment of USAID’s men and women in
the fight against HIV and AIDS in some of the most difficult
environments in the world.
Today, as I transition into a dual role as 1) Director of
foreign assistance at the U.S. State Department and 2) Administrator
of USAID, I am honored by the opportunity and excited about
the challenges we will face together on this and other critical
issues facing the worldwide community.
USAID has a long and proud history and an extensive track
record for extending a helping hand to countries recovering
from disasters, trying to escape poverty, and building democratic
institutions. Now more than ever that expertise will be necessary
to meet the unprecedented development challenges of this century—a
time where the world is both ripe with democratic promise
and menaced by global terrorism.
We, as an agency and a nation, must recognize that our future
is inextricably linked to those we seek to assist. Our nation
today is threatened less by conquering states than by failing
and ungoverned ones. Threats to U.S. national security have
shifted to the developing world where poverty, oppression,
injustice, and state indifference are exploited and provide
havens for people intent on plotting criminal acts against
us.
To counter these new threats, development assistance is
now a foundational pillar of our new national security architecture.
Development must engender fundamental changes in governance
and institutions, human capacity, and economic growth, so
countries can sustain economic, political, and social progress
toward democracy and increased freedom. “Results”
and “sustainability” must be our guiding principals.
The reorganization that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
has announced is going to transform the implementation of
American foreign assistance over the long term, well into
the 21st century. Strategies to promote good governance, strengthen
human capacity, and increase access to economic opportunity
have long been principles of development assistance. Our foreign
policy objectives are also now aligned with these principles,
and this reorganization will ensure that our foreign assistance
budget reflects that alignment.
In the end, as Americans, we cannot turn our backs on the
millions of children who succumb to starvation and disease
each day. We cannot turn our backs on citizens who toil under
oppressive poverty, seeking to feed their families in a daily
struggle for survival. We must better engage developing nations
in order to get at the root causes of terrorism.
This is already happening. In Afghanistan, for example,
where USAID’s programs are making steady—and in
some cases dramatic—improvements in healthcare, civil
society, education, and the building of democratic institutions.
I am looking forward to drawing on some of USAID’s best
practices as we work together to replicate these kinds of
successes in other countries.
To be sure, USAID will always stand committed to feeding
the world’s hungry and relieving suffering in regions
of the world that face disaster. As the reactions to the 2004
tsunami in South Asia and last year’s earthquake in Pakistan
demonstrate, this agency can be an efficient, compassionate,
and effective responder to humanitarian emergencies. USAID
must continue to play a leading role in such efforts.
The men and women of USAID have been empowered to play a
vital role on behalf of the people of the United States, not
only to alleviate poverty and suffering, but to assist citizens
of the global community to realize a hopeful, prosperous,
and peaceful future. I am proud to serve alongside you.
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