Infirmary to Benefit from Labour Day Project

The St. Catherine Infirmary in Spanish Town is to benefit from the proceeds of an agricultural plot that was established behind the Guys Hill market, today (May 23), in keeping with the Labour Day theme: ‘Eat what we grow.Grow what we eat’.
Chairman of the Joint Civic Functions Committee of the St. Catherine Parish Council, Robert Allen, told JIS News that the infirmary would receive significant benefit as a result of the project.
“What is going to be reaped from here, 60 per cent will go to the infirmary in Spanish Town and so it will reduce their expenditure when it comes to purchasing vegetables,” he said.
Mayor of Spanish Town, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, who led the team in planting sweet peppers, tomatoes, calalloo, ackee and banana said the project was deliberately chosen to reflect the theme of Labour Day, and would encourage young people to get involved in farming.
He said the exercise would also be used to increase awareness among residents of the parish of the economic and nutritional benefits to be derived from a backyard garden.
“We need to start to produce our own indigenous food for our own sustainability and this is part of the Parish Council’s effort to encourage persons. We want to bring back our cassava, our dasheen, our yam, our ackee, and our banana as a part of the diet of Jamaicans. If we are not able to produce for ourselves, then we will find the situation getting more difficult for us to survive as a country and as a nation,” he said.
The Mayor pointed out that backyard garden kits would be distributed throughout the parish through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Parish Council.
He noted that in addition to the establishment of backyard gardens and other agricultural plots, several other projects were carried out on Labour Day, including the painting of pedestrian crossings, curb walls and round-abouts; the bushing of overgrown gardens and public areas; and the general cleaning-up of public and private spaces.