Posted by Wow, I'm getting hongry on June 11, 2001 at 17:01:45:
Forbidden fruit: Jamaica seeks
protection for ackee
BY RICHARD CHACON
The Boston Globe
KINGSTON, Jamaica -- These are good times for ackee.
Ever since the United States agreed last year to lift a
decades-old ban on the importation of Jamaica's national fruit,
sales have soared, thousands of acres of new ackee trees have
been planted, and diplomats and farmers alike have used the
fruit as an example of how greater free trade can benefit small
countries such as Jamaica.
But even those enjoying ackee's newfound popularity worry
about getting burned by their own success.
``If this product becomes mainstream,'' says Norman
McDonald, owner of Canco, a food exporting company,
``Jamaica alone won't be able to meet the demand. That's when
we have to worry about others taking our business, like Mexico
or Costa Rica.''
Sentiments like McDonald's are heard often these days around
this country of 3 million people, which is marching cautiously
toward the idea of a single hemispheric trade zone, such as the
one proposed at April's Summit of the Americas in Canada.
Although smaller countries, such as Jamaica, embrace the
concept of greater trade to expand their markets, especially in
the United States, they worry about making themselves more
vulnerable to increased competition and about losing jobs,
money, and pride.
It's happened before. Jamaica's sugar industry, once a model
for the Caribbean, closed more than half of its factories over the
past 40 years because of growing competition. Its garment
industry, which employed as many as 35,000 workers as
recently as the 1980s, has lost most of its business to less
expensive factories in Central America and the Dominican
Republic.
And it could happen with ackee, which was brought to Jamaica
in the 18th Century from Africa. Jamaica's limited supply has
created interest in other countries, including the United States,
where at least one ackee importer plans to start his own
orchards.
``This is a very viable product that can be sold to a large ethnic
and mainstream market,'' said Jerry Kritchman, the owner of
Oxtails and More, a grocery store in West Palm Beach, where a
can of imported ackee sells for $4.99. ``We sell 30 cases a
week of ackee and could probably sell as many as 60.''
Concerns over new competition are part of the reason why
officials from Jamaica and other small Caribbean countries
want a few conditions included in the new free trade agreement.
``The FTAA will change the way we and other countries get into
the U.S. market, and we can't afford to be left out,'' said Richard
Bernal, an economist who is Jamaica's ambassador in
Washington. ``But this agreement must make special
considerations for smaller economies like ours.''
Some of those conditions, Bernal and others say, would allow
small countries to take more time to phase out certain tariffs --
such as Jamaica's 200 percent tax on SUVs imported from the
United States, or the 100 percent duty it charges on U.S.-grown
carrots.
Small countries also want larger nations and financial
organizations to help them develop new industries or broaden
the market for existing products like ackee.
The pear-shaped fruit, which has large black seeds and yellow
flesh, traditionally is prepared with dried cod to make Jamaica's
national dish -- ackee and saltfish -- a meal made famous by a
Harry Belafonte calypso song. Cooked, it looks and tastes like
scrambled eggs.
But ackee was banned from stores in the United States in 1973,
mostly out of concern that unripe ackee could poison
consumers and because Jamaican canneries had not met
some U.S. and international health requirements. Cases of
ackee still entered the United States, however, often smuggled
through Canada and bought by Jamaican immigrants.
In 1998, at the urging of the U.S. Embassy in Kingston,
negotiations began to bring the ackee canning factories up to
code. With low-interest loans from development banks, many of
the plants added lighting, repaired factory floors, and invested in
new equipment and employee training programs to meet
standards.
Two Jamaican firms won approval in July, including McDonald's
company. Another two followed in February.
``Ackee is an excellent example of how good, thorough
communication between governments can lead to more trade
and benefits for everyone,'' said Andre Gordon, chief executive of
Technological Solutions Ltd., who directed a task force during
the talks on ackee.
``This is the kind of help that developing countries often need to
understand how to get around health requirements and other
trade barriers,'' he said.
Experts say that if Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, which
depend heavily on foreign trade, want additional commerce
there is no choice but to accept the idea of a free-trade zone,
which negotiators hope to have in place by the end of 2005.
Jamaica already is party to more than a dozen trade
agreements, including the Caribbean Basin Initiative with the
United States, which is scheduled to expire in 2008.
Last year Jamaica's exports totaled over $780 million in goods
and services, while imports topped $1.8 billion.
Because of its size, however, Jamaica, like its Caribbean
neighbors, is limited in the kinds of products it can offer. Top
exports continue to be sugar, bauxite, aluminum, and rum. But
in a single hemispheric trading zone, the mix of products could
change over time.
``Sugar is the most political commodity in the region,'' said Karl
James, who represents eight of Jamaica's largest sugar
factories. ``If there were a truly open market for it, there would be
an oversupply for the region. Then what? What would a country
like Jamaica do if it doesn't have alternatives?''
With manufacturing in decline and tourism limited to a few
resort areas, the country is preparing itself for the future by
investing in new sectors such as information technology, where
it has launched a $113 million project to create 40,000 jobs.
Jamaica also is looking hopefully toward expanding markets in
the United States and elsewhere for some of its more exotic
agricultural products, such as its famous Blue Mountain coffee,
ackee, yams, tamarind, and soursops.
Exporters like McDonald complain that often the biggest trade
barriers are not other countries' quotas or tariffs but the lack of
support at home. Jamaican bank loans, the most common way
to finance new projects, can carry annual interest rates ranging
from 25 percent to 80 percent.
The country also suffers from a lack of transportation
infrastructure and a chronic crime problem. Many of Canco's
workers at the company's 13,000-square-foot plant in Seaforth,
about two hours east of Kingston, have been mugged or
kidnapped.
``Sometimes it seems like our biggest problems are right here
at home,'' McDonald added. ``We can talk about free trade with
other markets, but it all starts with the ability to take care of
ourselves and our businesses.''