Food Regimes and Food Import Dependence: An Analysis of Jamaica’s Food Imports, 1950–2000

Abstract

The international trade rules in place since the 1950s have created heavy dependence on imported food across the Global South. In the early 1950s, most of these countries (or soon-to-be-independent colonies) were self-sufficient in food, and many were net food exporters. By the early 2000s, 70 per cent of them were net food importers (McMichael 2009a). Jamaica is fairly typical: in 1950, Jamaica exported about £14 million worth of food products (sugar, rum, and bananas accounted for 70 per cent of this) and imported food products worth £5.4 million (wheat and wheat flour accounted for 33 per cent of this). Imports were a little over one-third the value of exports. In 2000, food exports were US$228 million and food imports were US$446 million, almost double the value of food exports (STATIN 1950, ESSJ 2000). Using Jamaica as a case study, this chapter will show how food import dependence has been created through the evolution of the global food system, argue that dependence creates an unhealthy situation in several respects, and conclude that a new set of rules is needed to govern the global trade in food.

I would like to thank Patricia Anderson for her comments on an earlier draft, and David Bernard for formatting the figures.