. Lindsay, Consultant, Jamaica

1. CTA Sponsored Case Study of
Extension and Advisory Services
Policies
Jamaica
Joseph I. Lindsay Consultant & Al Powell
CEO Rural Agricultural Development
Authority

2. Map of the Caribbean Showing Jamaica

3. Overview
 Jamaica is the third largest island in the
Caribbean Archipelago.
 It has a population of 2.7million and a GDP per
capita of US$5,000
 Large estates dominate sugar, citrus and to a
lesser extent banana and pastures. The best
lands are still in sugar and some have diversified
into fruit and tree crops
 Over 230,000 farmers are engaged in agriculture
and over 40% of the population depends directly
or indirectly on agriculture

4. Farm Sizes Jamaica
Size group of 2007 Number of 1996 Number of Average Size in ha
farms farms farms
(hectares) 2007 1996
Under 1 47,712 159,040 43,459 108,648 0.3 0.4
1 to under 5 86,011 45,269 101,977 50,989 1.9 2.0
0.4 50,783 4,534 67,723 6,046 11.2 11.2
50 to under 25,449 270 41,484 427 94.3 97.2
200
 200 115,854 140 152,791 369 827.5 414.1
All farms 325,000 209,213 407,434 1.6 2.4

5. Major Issues Facing Agriculture
Sector (www.vision 2030.com)
 Declining competitiveness of agricultural production
 Inadequate financing for the agricultural sector
 Limited staffing and resources for the extension
services
 Gaps in key agriculture infrastructure-
roads, irrigation, grading and storage facilities
 Weaknesses in markets-informality in
channels, inadequate marketing information, poor
linkages to other sectors in the society
 Land degradation issues-soil
erosion, agrochemicals, deforestation, fires, illegal
settlements
 Land tenure issues-informality, squatting, lack of

6. Data Collection
 Face to face interviews-
-Minister, senior management
- RADA CEO/Staff
 Telephone interviews
 Email queries
 Questionnaire-training institutions
 Literature review
-Planning Institute, Statistical Institute; Organizational
websites, publications

7. Major Policy Instruments
Jamaica
No Major policy
1 Cattle Sector Policy Framework 2010-
2020
2 Food Safety Policy
3 Sustainable Fisheries Development
Policy
4 Plant Health Policy
5 Animal Health Policy
6 Banana Policy
7 Organic Agriculture Policy
8 Food and Nutrition Security Policy
9 Agricultural Land Utilization Policy
10 National Seed Policy

8. Perspective on small scale and
subsistence farming
 The government is not encouraging subsistence
farming per se. In the case of small scale
farming, emphasis is being placed on commercial
production.
 This is being supported by finance, marketing ,
post harvest and generally managed by RADA

9. Extension policy environment
 Current Agriculture extension and advisory
structure Jamaica
 The advisory extension services in Jamaica
dates back to 1895 when the major responsibility
was vested in the farmer-based Jamaica
Agriculture Society(JAS) (www.jas.org).
 The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries since
the 1950s has had major responsibility for the
public sector advisory and agriculture extension
service in Jamaica
 Since 1990 the public extension advisory
services have been vested in the Rural
Agriculture Development Authority (RADA)
(www.rada.gov.jm).

10. Current structure of extension
advisory delivery in Jamaica
 RADA - dedicated de-centralized public sector
extension and advisory service
 Commodity based extension services –sugar
cane, banana, coffee, cocoa, coconut,
fisheries/aquaculture, irrigation
 Private
- Broiler chicken contractors
-Agro-industrial input suppliers

11. Extension Agency RADA’s
Mandate
 Provision of a channel for the free flow of policy
inputs from farmers and for the implementation of
policy decisions taken by policy makers;
 To enhance the development of farming through an
effective, efficient and sustainable Extension Service.
 To supplement information to rural development
agencies, thereby assisting to advance improvements
in rural infrastructure.
 To provide the supplemental social services required
for the improvement of the quality of life of farm
families.
 To provide technical advice to farmers of any size.
 To provide a reliable agricultural marketing
information service.
 To assist in the implementation of specified rural
development projects

12. RADA’s Mandates (cont’d)
 Development and operation of rural agricultural
service centres at strategic locations in order to bring
the service closer to farmers;
 Implementation of selected projects which impact on
the farming and biological environments (watershed
development, hillside agriculture) in order to stem
environmental degradation and promote the use of
natural resources;
 Liaising with agricultural research organizations in
order to provide the technology delivery link to rural
farmers;
 Encouragement of agro-industrial development in
order to contribute to national food security and
reduce the reliance on food imports;
 Assistance to rural women in identifying income
earning opportunities and developing small
businesses through which they can earn a livelihood

13. Extension Delivery
 RADA structure is aligned with parish
boundaries(Figure 1).
 Each parish is divided into extension areas which are
manned by extension offices for
crops, marketing, livestock, land husbandry
 The qualifications of extension officers range from
ASc degrees to PhD/DVM
 Several approaches are used in the delivery of
technology and information
 Social Services/Home economics-for women
empowerment and development of agro-processing –
value adding to products
 Ratio of RADA extension officers to farmers is about

14. Extension Areas

15. Complement of RADA Extension
Advisory Services Staff
Staff category Number Core business
Principal Director 2 Field Services/Operation
/Technical services
Senior Directors 2
Zonal Directors 2 Zonal Administration
Parish Managers* 13 Parish Administration
Deputy parish Managers 13 Extension Administration
Crop Extension Officers 98 Crops; General Agriculture
Extension Assistants 60 Backstopping of extension
officers
Marketing Extension Officers 14 Market promotion/ intelligence
Livestock Extension Officers 14 Livestock training and
development
Plant Protection Officers 4 Plant Protection, Pest Risk
Land Husbandry Officers 4 Livestock husbandry
Regional Engineers 5 Roads and Works
Sub-Total 231

16. ICT Tools in Operation at RADA
1 Establishment and maintenance of RADA website (www.rada.gov.jm)
2 Establishment and maintenance of Agricultural Business Information System
Website (www.abisjamaica.com.jm) with data on all farmers, buyers etc
3 Maintaining linkage to main Ministry of Agriculture website
(www.moa.gov.jm) and related partner agencies
4 Linkage of marketing officers to Jamaica Agriculture Marketing Information
System (www.ja-mis.com)
5 Provision of internet access to extension staff
6 Provision of desktop and laptop computers for dedicated use by extension
staff
7 Provision of GPS Units for extension districts
8 Training of staff in MS Office and provision of relevant programmes licensed
to the organization
9 Training in GIS and GPS use/application
10 Provision of blackberry or other cell phone and establishing of closed user
group

17. RADA Budgetary and Other
Resources
 Core budget from Government
- salary, travel support, core activities
 Income earning projects
 Contract Services/Implementing Agency
-Government sponsored projects
-Bilateral projects-FAO, EU, USAID, IICA, CARDI
-NGOs

18. Capacity Building
 Staff recruited from a number of institutions
 -Universities, Agriculture Colleges
 Mandatory lifelong learning completion of
minimum of 30 hours of in-service training for
extension officers
 Provision of study leave support for specialized
and graduate studies
 South/South visits to extension, research and
development institutions

19. Challenges
 Linkage between extension and research
 Manpower/skills match
 Inadequate physical and human resources
 Conflicting demands on extension personnel
 Policy shifts with changes in administration
 Lack of mechanism for evaluation of the impact of
extension on producers and productivity of the
agriculture sector
 Identification of the best methods for technology
transfer
 Lack of a local professional extension body

20. Summary
 The extension and advisory services in Jamaica consist of
a dedicated statutory organization (RADA) since August
01, 1990, As a statutory body RADA is not stymied by
Government bureaucracy
 RADA has mandates for modernizing extension service
focusing on market driven commercial production with
support for accessing finance, post-harvest management,
marketing and use of the agriculture value chain
 Extension started in 1895 as a farmer managed advisory
service
 Commodity boards and private sector service providers
play an important link in
 Several limitations including funding, human resources for
sociology, rural development and matching personnel to
required skill sets
 The impact of the extension service on agriculture sector
and farmers needs to be documented

21. Acknowledgements
 CTA funding of the case study and my
participation in the conference
 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries –Minister and
staff
 Rural Agricultural Development Authority –CEO
and staff
 Commodity organizations
 Private sector service and input suppliers

22.  Thank you