Farmers Charged to Assume Leadership Roles in their Communities

First Vice President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Glendon Harris, has charged farmers to assume leadership roles in their communities, and not to allow developments to take place without their full input.
Mr. Harris, who was addressing the Annual General Meeting of the Hanover Association of Branch Societies of the JAS on June 14, at the Anglican Church Hall in Lucea, said that farmers must ensure that they benefited from developments in their parish.
He noted that at the national level, there was renewed respect for the farming community, and as such, high level discussions were taking place with farming groups towards the advancement of agriculture and the nation on the whole.
Citing a recent meeting among executive members of the JAS and representatives of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the JAS Vice President said, “there is no history of such high level meetings being held with farming groups in developing countries”.
“I do not know if you get the gist of what I am saying farmers, but I am saying that a new confidence has been developed for and in the JAS, and it is left for us as farmers to ensure that we play our part”, he said.
On another matter, Mr. Harris indicated that the agency would be placing increased focus on rural development. He noted that, “politics cannot lead rural Jamaica to where it ought to be (and) it will take the leadership of the JAS that represents the farmers in all rural communities to step up to the challenge to determine the future of rural Jamaica”.
He pleaded with the farmers to get involved and share their knowledge within the educational sector by adopting school garden projects through their JAS branches.