AN ALTERNATIVE TO GANJA FARMING

It's not often that a minister of government speaks candidly about a
situation in which the law is being broken, while acknowledging that
the illegal activities provide economic sustenance for a large
number of persons.

Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton did just that on
Thursday, speaking to farmers at the Bigwoods Primary School in St
Elizabeth after 120 hectares of land were burnt and a number of
animals killed earlier this week, in what residents say was an
attempt at ganja eradication that got out of hand.

What Dr Tufton said was nothing earth shatteringly new. As is often
the case, though, it is the authority of the source that makes the
difference. And as agriculture minister, as well as member of
parliament for South West St Elizabeth, he is authoritative when he
said, as was reported in The Gleaner yesterday, that:

"It is the mainstay of the livelihood of many communities and,
without marijuana, they wouldn't be able to survive."

He went on to suggest that an alternative to planting marijuana be
provided, along with the eradication programme. Again that is not a
stupendous leap in the thought process, but the obvious has eluded
those who would take a slash-and-burn approach to the campaign
against ganja growing.

The concentration of the population and economic activity in the few
urbanised sections of Jamaica, especially the Corporate Area with
Portmore being a dormitory community where many residents rest their
heads in between trips to work in Kingston, has resulted in a
distinct lack of moneymaking opportunities in the rural areas.
Marijuana, for which there is a strong local demand (if the
commonplace possession cases which come before the courts are
anything to go by), as well as from overseas (as the seizures at
departure points and the US's continued interest in eradication
indicates), would appear to be the crop that fills this gap, if
Tufton's statement is to be taken along its logical path.

So, providing an alternative is imperative not only because of
economic sustenance, but also the fact that growing marijuana makes
criminals out of persons who are liable to be locked up and tossed
into a cell with persons who have performed deliberately heinous acts.

What that alternative would be, though, is another matter. For there
is no crop in Jamaica which will provide the returns for a farmer
that marijuana does.

It is notable that Tufton did not suggest decriminalisation of
marijuana. We hardly expect a sole minister of government to do so
without a collective stance by the party in power and, with the
United States and others in the country dead set against production
of the plant here, we also do not expect such a stance to be made by
any Jamaican government.

We do know, though, that this conflagration of crops and emotions in
St Elizabeth is but one in an intermittent stream of such conflicts
between the authorities and citizens over marijuana at various
stages in its trip from the soil to ingestion. And we do know that
if the police are to have the harmonious relationship they appear to
desire with the general populace, this issue of consistent conflict
will have to be addressed.