4-H Clubs Encouraged to Supply Food to Schools

Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, is encouraging the country’s 4-H clubs to supply some of the food needed for the Government’s school feeding programme, through the different agricultural pursuits.

Lamenting that the Ministry is spending $4 billion a year to fund the school feeding programme, Rev. Thwaites said the Ministry is willing to enter into an agreement with the 4-H Movement and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries  this year,  “to kick off this plan” to supply locally grown food to the programme.

“The 4-H clubs throughout the country should be growing as much of the food needed for school feeding as they you can, and getting paid for it out of that money,” the  Minister emphasized.

Rev. Thwaites was addressing the Kingston 4-H Clubs’ Annual Parish Achievement Day, held at the Duhaney Park Primary School in Kingston on February 21.

He said the 4-H Movement can harness the  agricultural skills of its members and become leaders in the school feeding programme, noting that Jamaica cannot afford to spend US$1 billion a year to import food, “which we can grow for ourselves.”

“There is money in it….all of you can earn something for yourselves and for the schools, and we can improve the nutrition of our children and  strengthen the output of agriculture in this country,” he told the clubbites in attendance.

The Minister said he is pleased that some constituents in North West St. Elizabeth have recognized the wisdom in supplying locally grown foods for the programme.

“Rather than get supplies of flour and rice, and corned beef from the Ministry of Education, which we have to import, they have said ‘give us the money that you would have spent on that and we will patronize our farmers and we will provide food for the children’,” Rev. Thwaites informed.