3K/5K Run/Walk to Support Health and Food Security Initiative

About 200 persons are expected to participate in the Farm Up Jamaica Run/Walk scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 20, beginning at 5:00 a.m. at Emancipation Park in Kingston.

The race is being held in conjunction with the Eighth Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference from June 16 to 20 at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, under the theme, ‘Jamaica and the Diaspora: Building Pathways for Sustainable Development’.

It will have a 3K and 5K component, which will see runners beginning at the Emancipation Park and returning to the venue. Following the race, there will be the presentation of prizes and plaques and an address by Dr. Julius Garvey, son of National Hero, the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith; and President, Union of Jamaica Alumni Associations (UJAA), Lesleyann Samuel, are also expected to speak.

Race Coordinator, Neil Curtis, told JIS News that the Run/Walk is about health and food security.

He said that Farm Up Jamaica, a diaspora organisation, aims to reduce the importation of foreign foods into Jamaica, increase Jamaica’s exports, and educate young people and farmers in the best practices of climate smart organic agriculture.

“It is about increasing the health of Jamaicans by creating an option for organic food when you go to the supermarkets. Right now you only have what is available, but we want that local-grown organic food,” he said.

Mr. Curtis said the project, which began in 2013, has trained about 600 young people in the art of organic sustainable climate smart agriculture.

“We have done a number of research and development that relates to soil cleaning of the bauxite land and even some of the conventionally farmed lands. We figured how to regenerate those lands without using chemicals by using organic techniques and we have done that very successfully,” he added.