Speech

Remarks by Karen Hilliard at the Opening Ceremony of the Cocoa Technical Forum July 7, 2009

As prepared

Kingston, Jamaica | Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Honorable Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries; Mr. Donovan Stanberry, Permanent Secretary; Mr. Frank Phipps, Cocoa Industry Board ; Mr. Al Powell, Executive Director of Rural Agricultural Development Authority; our presenters; farmers; ladies and gentlemen; good morning.

USAID/Jamaica, through our Protected Areas and Rural Enterprise (PARE) project, is proud to partner with the Ministry, RADA and the Cocoa Industry Board to convene this forum for the Jamaica’s cocoa sector.

This forum is one of the early actions that USAID is supporting to address production and marketing constraints in the cocoa value chain, and to ultimately rehabilitate the sector.  A high point on this ‘road to rehabilitation’ occurred at a workshop in 2008 when the findings of a USAID- funded assessment of the cocoa sector were presented to key stakeholders. As a result, the participants agreed on the five goals that would form the preliminary strategy for early action.

Our joint participation at this forum is the conduit to fulfilling one of these goals, which is increased production and productivity through increased technical knowledge and training sessions. This was considered critical given the potential of local cocoa production to re-energize the economies of Jamaica’s traditional cocoa producing areas and generate much needed foreign exchange.      

We will hear of best practices and innovations from our very talented local and international partners, which include the Cocoa Industry Board, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) and ACDI/VOCA. I’m a little disappointed I will have to miss today’s tasting session.

That said, we at USAID are happy to support this meeting of minds.  We remain committed to supporting the Ministry in this process of sector reform and rehabilitation. We have been working with the CIB, a local consultant and CATIE to review farm management practices and socioeconomic status of active cocoa farms.  The findings of this review will be made available to you over the next few days during the presentations and in the poster display.  I understand some of the farmers who participated in this survey are with us today, and so on behalf of USAID I want to express our sincere thanks to you for facilitating the work of this team.

Over the coming months we will make technical assistance available to the Ministry as it undertakes marketing and pricing reforms, and restructuring the Cocoa Industry Board. These actions will facilitate greater revenue transfer to cocoa producers and move commercial functions into the private sector. Our objective over the coming years is for Jamaican farmers to move from the current 40 percent of the world market price to 80 percent.

USAID is also pleased that cocoa farmers have come together to form the Jamaica Cocoa Farmers Association. We look forward to working with the JCFA in the coming months and hope that it will lend its support to all cocoa farmers, large and small.

I want to use this opportunity to encourage other donors to lend their assistance to the rehabilitation of the cocoa sector.  USAID’s resources are limited and we can make an even greater impact if larger donors are able to join us at the table. 

This is an initiative that will improve the farming sector and support rural income generation. I encourage your full participation and wish you all an excellent forum.  Thank You.