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Fellow Jamaicans - I bring you warmest greetings on the occasion of the start of the 2006-2007 winter tourist season. As always, it is a new beginning rife with not just promises, but real possibilities. I have deliberately refrained from calling it a 'fresh start', because the buoyancy of the past season, and indeed calendar year 2006 have exceeded our...

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said ways must be found to ensure that the construction of the North Coast Highway helps to boost economic opportunities in the communities along the highway corridor. She said this and other massive road works taking place across the country should help to transform the island's towns and villages and bring new hope for the...

The Ministry of Health has commenced Phase Two of the vector control programme in order to further stem the flare-up in malaria cases in the island. Phase two involves field inspectors revisiting and re-treating the 16 confirmed breeding sites in sections the capital Kingston for the anopheles mosquito. Speaking to JIS News, Acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in the Ministry...

With the winter tourism season now officially underway, Minister of Tourism, Entertainment and Culture, Aloun Ndombet Assamba, has said that a target of 15 per cent increase in visitor arrivals for the period January to April has been set, with 10 per cent of the figure being stopover visitors. "We have been working hard all year to ensure that we...

More than 70 students and teachers from schools in London were recently treated to a traditional Jamaican Christmas at the High Commission located in the British capital. The children, many of whom are studying Jamaican culture for school projects, learnt about how Christmas was observed on the island with information about tradition activities like Jonkonnu parades, and the Christmas grand...

A team from the Registrar General's Department (RGD), led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Patricia Holness, conducted a two-day outreach at the Jamaican High Commission in London this week, providing face-to-face civil registration services to Jamaicans in the United Kingdom. Dr. Holness told JIS News that the team was able to address registration challenges being faced by individuals who...

The St. Mary Health Department has implemented a number of measures to prevent the malaria infection, which is affecting a number of communities in Kingston and St. Catherine, from spreading to the parish. Albert Brown, Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for St. Mary, said the measures include the close monitoring of persons affected by fever, fogging of ponds, rivers, gullies...

Farmers in St. Ann are being encouraged to get involved in the Domestic Food Crop Project and reap the many benefits that the programme has to offer. "Under the Domestic Food Crop Project, we are assisting farmers who are into domestic crop production with the installation of mini drip irrigation systems on their holdings," St. Ann Parish Manager for the...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), yesterday (December 13), recognized top small farmers and agri-business partners for their efforts in revitalizing Jamaica's agricultural production. Speaking at the awards ceremony at Hope Gardens, Agriculture and Lands Minister, Roger Clarke said the achievements of farmers were testament to their ability to...

Preliminary estimates from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) indicate that the parish of St. Mary sustained agricultural loss amounting to almost $14 million, as a result of the recent heavy rains. RADA Parish Manager for St. Mary, Victor Edwards, told JIS News on Tuesday (Dec.12) that the figure was expected to increase, as reports of losses suffered by farmers...

As food security becomes increasingly critical, particularly to developing nations, the Jamaican government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, has been successfully employing innovative measures to attract young people to the industry, through various initiatives. In 1998, the National Youth in Agriculture Committee was merged with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority's (RADA) School's Agricultural Programme to make plans to...

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is staging a series of workshops in watershed areas in western Jamaica, which are designed to raise citizens awareness of the importance of watersheds and the need to protect them. The first event was held yesterday (Dec. 13) at Cambridge in St. James, where the Great River Watershed is located. Great River is...