Jamaicans Urged to Eat More Local Produce

President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Glendon Harris, is urging citizens to actively support the ‘Eat Jamaica’ campaign by consuming more locally-produced food.
“In the same breath, we also urge the farmers to increase production and offer high quality, value-added products, with attractive packaging,” Mr. Harris said, as he addressed the 6th anniversary function of the ‘Eat Jamaica’ campaign held earlier this week at the Denbigh Showground in Clarendon.
He said that by increasing the production of quality produce, “we will be able to rival the best of our global competitors, like our athletes have done in Beijing China and Berlin Germany.”
According to Mr. Harris, the JAS’ ‘Eat Jamaica’ campaign is designed to reposition the Jamaica agricultural sector and develop a programme of sustainable food security by strengthening rural farming; increasing the quantity and quality of foods to enhance Brand Jamaica; and ensuring consistency in supply.
The campaign, he said, also serves to re-establish that Jamaica is an agricultural country and central to the Jamaican culture is the food that it produces and the ways in which they are prepared.
“It is to remind those that have forgotten and to inform those who are too young to know about the dimensions of Jamaica’s farming sector…from the small subsistence farmer to the large farming operations, the economic importance in terms of jobs and income generation, and the success stories as well as the struggles for survival,” he added.
He said that the JAS has been a viable and relevant farmers’ organisation, “by helping to create an atmosphere where wealth can be generated for all through the influencing of policies that will benefit the sector.”