Farmers’ Expo Displays Best of Production in Portland

The best of agricultural production in Portland was on full display at the seventh Portland Farmers’ Agricultural Exposition held on April 20 at the Old Port Antonio Marina.
The event showcased the various crops cultivated in the parish and highlighted a number of value-added products from fruits, vegetables and ground provisions.
In addition to the farmers’ displays, information booths were also mounted by a number of organizations including the National Youth Service, the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT), the Bank of Nova Scotia and Digicel.
Sponsored by the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) in collaboration with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), the event attracted hundreds of residents of the parish, in addition to representatives of government and non-government organizations.
Welcoming the gathering, Donald Berry, President of the Portland Association of Branch Societies of the JAS, commended the farmers on their high quality displays and praised their resilience in the face of various challenges to the sector.
He urged them to continue to increase production and to regard agriculture as a business, which, if properly managed, could guarantee success.
In her remarks, Thelma Williams, Regional Manager for the JAS, declared her organisation’s full commitment to the welfare of farmers in Portland, as manifested in the recent completion of a technology centre at the JAS office in Port Antonio for their everyday use, and the establishment of a programme of cooperation with the Government of Japan, through which farming equipment and exposure to the latest technology were being made available to them.
Meanwhile, Parish Manager for the Portland Office of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Gloria Clarke, encouraged the farmers to become active contributors to the National Insurance Scheme in order to become eligible for benefits, when they could no longer work.
She noted that the $42 billion NIS fund was being carefully managed to protect the interests of the country’s workers.