Outgoing Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, Lisa Hanna rubbed many the wrong way on Tuesday when she told the Parliament that the ‘eat what we grow’ agricultural policy first advanced by former Prime Minister Michael Manley is no longer relevant.

She said she expects her comments to make ‘people’s get back up’ but, despite this, felt it was necessary to say, the over 50-year-old agricultural policy was no longer meaningful based on Jamaica’s reality and the policy must now evolve.

While making her contribution to the Sectoral Debate, Hanna said the policy “was 50 years ago, and it was a concept because of the prevailing economic, global circumstances which actually forced us to look inward; to plant and feed for ourselves. Fifty years later, with globalisation, that concept is not focusing outwards”.

She questioned how the policy supports farmers in this time and age.

The outgoing MP says, upholding this policy is simply keeping Jamaican farmers ignorant of global productivity and suggested that farmers be made aware of the actual opportunities for export and are properly equipped with fertilizers and water to take advantage of international demands.