Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

Prime Minister Bruce Golding operates a forklift to unload a batch of fertiliser at Port Bustamante, Kingston Wharves, yesterday. The fertiliser was imported by the Government to provide it at a cheaper cost to farmers. - Norman Grindley/Acting Photography Editor

Consumers should expect a decrease in food prices for the Christmas season and cheaper fertilisers.

Karl Samuda, minister of industry, investment and commerce, yesterday said the downward trend of food prices was likely to take effect in another six to eight weeks.

"The outlook is good," he said, adding that it would take just over a month before Jamaicans began to feel the impact of the reduction in world prices in food items.

However, Samuda said consumers should not expect a cut in the price of tinned mackerel and corned beef as a result of several factors, including shortage of the main ingredients on the world market.

Samuda was speaking at a press conference at the ministry's St Lucia Avenue offices in New Kingston, days after the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) reported at a Gleaner Editors' Forum that local prices remained high despite international cuts.

Exception

Yesterday, Samuda said with the exception of counter flour, of 13 food items surveyed by the CAC, there was a marginal price increase in October when compared with the previous month.

"We are disappointed with the movement," he said, declaring that the Government would be examining the time it took to pass on the global price reductions to the local retail trade.

Before the press conference, Samuda hosted a monthly meeting with various stakeholders of the distributive trade.

"They are doing their very best to bring to consumers the best prices," he said, adding that distributive trade stakeholders would adjust their prices to reflect several variables, including stock and electricity charges.

Fertiliser has arrived

Meanwhile, the long-awaited Government-imported fertiliser has now arrived.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said each bag should not be sold for more than $3,500.

It is now costing up to $7,000 for a 50-kilogram bag of fertiliser.

The first shipment of about 500 tonnes of fertiliser was viewed by Golding at Port Bustamante at Kingston Wharves, yesterday.

Another 2,000 tonnes of the farming input will be shipped to the island in five batches weekly. It is costing the Government approximately US$2 million (J$148 million) to import the 2,500 tonnes of fertiliser.

The fertiliser, primarily used by banana, sugar and cash-crop farmers, is scheduled to reach farm stores within a week.

Food security

"This is a massive drive for food security," said Golding, who was supported by Samuda and Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who were also at the wharf.

"A farmer cannot produce without bearing in mind the cost, of his production," the prime minister added.

Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, said the fertiliser was welcome. "We have seen a decline in production as many farmers waited on this fertiliser to come," said Grant.