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The Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement (JOAM) has endorsed government's move to develop the organic farming industry and has offered to make all of JOAM's products and experiences available for the success of the initiative. JOAM's president, Dr. Dwight Robinson, made the offer at a meeting at the Agriculture Ministry recently, where Minister Roger Clarke announced that the government would be...

Since its inception in 1996, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has successfully completed 469 projects throughout the most underserved areas of the island with some 619 projects approved to date representing a total investment of $3.1 billion. This is contained in the JSIF's 2003/04 annual report, which was tabled recently in the House of Representatives. During the review period,...

K.D. Knight, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is calling on the European Union (EU) to give the voices of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries equal weight to that of their EU counterparts. "Although we are in different categories economically, as we move to make this partnership work, then the issues which are of importance...

The Senate on Friday (December 17), sanctioned five Bills, which will enable Jamaica to participate in the first phase of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), scheduled for implementation on January 1, 2005. Justice Minister and Attorney General, Senator A.J. Nicholson who piloted the Bills, said their passing fulfilled Jamaica's commitment to early implementation of the Single Market, a...

The detailed engineering design and institutional strengthening components of the water project for the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) are now well advanced and the tendering of construction contracts is scheduled for 2005. Minister of Water and Housing, Donald Buchanan, made the disclosure in the House of Representatives recently, in response to questions posed by Member of Parliament for East Central...

Come February 2005, hundreds of Chinese and Caribbean businessmen and government officials will converge in Jamaica to participate in the China-Caribbean Trade Forum and Fair, from which critical alliances and partnerships are expected to be forged. "The Chinese are coming to look for partners, because they recognise that there are benefits to partnering with Caribbean countries and we [the Port...

William Knibb Memorial High School in Trelawny continues to record excellence in agricultural science, with the school once again achieving a 100 per cent pass rate in the subject in the 2004 Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) tests. "It has been four consecutive years now that the school has got 100 per cent passes in the area of agriculture and we...

The Ministry of Health has secured a grant of $25.5 million from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sport and Education (CHASE) Fund to undertake critical repairs to health facilities, which were damaged during Hurricane Ivan. The allocation brings to $211 million, the total secured for repairs to the health sector, and takes the Ministry closer to its target of $232 million....

The Culture, Health, Arts, Sport and Education (CHASE) Fund has allotted $10.2 million to the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR) to assist in the rehabilitation of 60 basic schools that suffered damage during Hurricane Ivan in September. Of the schools to benefit, 19 are located in St. Thomas, 13 in Clarendon, 10 in St. Ann, with the others scattered across...

President of the Port Authority of Jamaica, Noel Hylton has assured that measures are in place to assist manufacturers, whose goods are on vessels that have diverted from the Kingston Transshipment port. Speaking at a JIS 'Think Tank' today (December 16), Mr. Hylton appealed to persons whose cargo have been diverted, to submit the names of the ship and the...

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) on Wednesday signed two contracts valued at $24 million, for the rehabilitation of two water supply systems in the parish of Portland. Of the amount, $15 million will go towards the repair of the Bybrook water system, which was damaged during flood rains last year, while the Bellevue domestic water supply, which was destroyed...

In keeping with part of its mandate to fund educational projects across the island, the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, has improved the learning environment of students at the Hopewell Basic School, in Hanover. The 36 year old institution, which has a population of approximately six teachers and 100 students ranging from three to six years old,...