THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE SMALL farmer, in particular the small coffee farmer of this island, should be placed on the list of endangered species. There is no other agricultural crop in Jamaica that a small farmer can make a better living from than coffee and yet he is on the brink of extinction. Coffee is the second largest selling product in the world, oil is number one. The Jamaica Agriculture Society (JAS), along with the Coffee Industry Board (CIB), has presided over the steady demise of our coffee industry. Today, the industry can supply only one-tenth of its quota and the quantity is becoming poorer each year.

Where is the money?

In Japan, where the bulk of our coffee is sold, a cup of coffee sells for upwards of US$7. Our farmers receive less than three cents a cup. Where is the money? The price of fertiliser and pesticides has trebled over the past two years.

Coffee farmers have had no price increase since 2005/2006 and we are offered six per cent increase for the year 2008/2009. This is a gross insult. Due to the combination of abominable road conditions - roads that have not been fixed since Hurricane Ivan - and the high cost of maintaining their coffee farms a number of farmers have abandoned them, more than 57 acres of Blue Mountain coffee, and they are not planting cassava. These farmers have received an average of $2,000 and two bags of fertiliser each for hurricane relief. We must put an end to these insults; and it can be done.

Saving ourselves

We, the coffee farmers, must unite - form a Coffee United People's Service, a coffee cartel run entirely by coffee farmers. Then, we can dictate our own terms. Coffee is always in demand and we demand fair compensation. The JAS and the CIB are politically oriented; they probably serve some purpose, but certainly not that of the coffee farmers. It is time to stand up and shout, fight if necessary. It is the only way we can save ourselves from extinction.

I am, etc.,

GERALD A HEDMANN

Mt Felix, Morant Bay PO

Box 207

St Thomas