The label on this bottle of jerk seasoning clearly states that it is a product of Trinidad and Tobago. Why does Jamaica need to import jerk seasoning from anyone? - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

If I am not mistaken, Jamaicans are the ones who first started producing jerk seasoning in all degrees of spiciness; so, why are we importing the bottled variety from Trinidad and Tobago? I got the surprise of my life when I saw the imported brand in a Corporate Area supermarket last weekend.

Scores of healthy young people engage in palm-kneading activity by the roadsides in their communities daily. Lands owned by the state remain idle and people complain they have nothing to do. Why are we not farming the land so that things like hot peppers could be grown in abundance and be used as raw materials for jerk seasoning? Should we not be the jerk- seasoning suppliers to the world? I would be willing to bet that Trinidad is not even buying the fresh peppers from us.

Do we intend to allow yet another home-grown product to be taken away by foreigners and sold back to us? I am not blaming Trinidad at all. You see, while others around them take a long, lazy economic slumber, they are strengthening themselves and by the time we awake, they would have already become the economic superpower in the region.

barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com