Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, has hailed LASCO’s Releaf Environmental Awareness Programme (REAP), which is in line with his recently announced fruit tree-planting programme. Mr. Shaw was addressing the sixth annual staging of the REAP awards ceremony and luncheon, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, on June 7. REAP encourages students to participate...

The Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) has restructured its operations from an inspection and enforcement agency to a trade facilitator and business enabler. Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’, today (June 7), Executive Director of the BSJ, Stephen Wedderburn, said the restructuring will see the National Compliance and Regulatory Agency (NCRA) taking on the regulatory arm of the Bureau, and...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, says young people need to develop a passion “for doing what is right” and be wary of “traps and pitfalls” that could ruin their lives. Delivering the keynote address at the valedictory service of the Knockalva Agricultural School in Hanover on June 1, Mr. Shaw said he has seen over...

Entrepreneur, Mark Shand, who owns fashion accessories outlet, K&M Designs, first decided to make ladies handbags from calabash after meeting a woman who owned one for 10 years. “I examined it, liked it, and started to make them some time later. The same woman saw my version, liked it, and suggested that I make earrings as well,” he told JIS...

Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, is calling on members of the local chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) to support the Government’s thrust to get more informal businesses regularised. He said regularisation will enable them to access benefits such as financing at reasonable rates, better positioning them to participate in productive activities, which will...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the credit union movement has been a tower of economic strength, which has served as a catalyst for many small and medium-size businesses. Speaking at the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL) awards banquet at the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel & Resort in St. James, recently, Minister Shaw said...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says the Government is in the process of developing a crop loss and farm insurance programme. Making his Sectoral Debate presentation in the House of Representatives on May 29, Mr. Hutchinson noted that a concept document outlining the mechanism for the off-budget financing of the...