ASPECTS OF JAMAICAN AGRICULTURE

This paper analyses the Jamaican food and agricultural sector, explaining the nature of adjustments during the 1974–84 period. Trends in agricultural production and trade are related to underlying determinants of performance: The paper documents the steep decline in real wages and in the food-purchasing power of Jamaicans. The nature of consequent adjustments in patterns of food consumption and in levels of nutrition are also indicated. Finally, the paper highlights the main elements of the policy thrust of the then government towards Jamaican agriculture and food consumption. These fail to address the problem of creating food-purchasing power for the poor.