Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Peter Thompson (centre), presents farmer Keisha Vassel (right) with a certificate of completion, at a graduation ceremony at the Church of God of Prophecy on Old Harbour Road in St. Catherine on December 18. At left is Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney.

Four hundred farmers were presented with certificates of completion on Wednesday (December 18), after an eight-month capacity building training programme geared at improving their technical skills, livelihood and overall earning potential.
The training programme was facilitated under the ninth cycle of the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), which is aimed at contributing to the improvement in the living conditions of poor and vulnerable communities.
It is being implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to the tune of US$8.9 million.
The training programme, which was led by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), saw farmers from the farming groups of Bull Savannah and Southfield in St. Elizabeth, Windalco in St. Catherine, Kirkvine in Manchester and Water Valley in St. Ann in attendance.
The areas covered by the training programme were good agricultural practices, water management, crop nutrition, sprayer calibration, food safety, pest management and harvesting among other things.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony held to recognise the hard work of the farmers, at the Church of God of Prophecy on Old Harbour Road in St. Catherine, Chief Executive Officer of RADA, Peter Thompson, said it is important to continuously build the capacity of farmers especially given such environmental threats as climate change.
“We know that what is happening in the environment, especially with climate change requires mitigation strategies and adaptation (measures). The only way to be successful when there is variability in climate is to continuously build capacity; to learn new things and new measures,” he said.
Mr. Thompson urged farmers of the various groups to build relationships and deepen their network.
He also encouraged them to utilize technology to be better farmers.
Meanwhile, in his remarks, JSIF Managing Director, Omar Sweeney said his agency has been working for the last 23 years to tackle poverty and has been partnering with RADA over the years in this regard.
He said the aim of this latest collaboration between the two entities “sought to deepen and improve the capacities” of the farmers.
He said it was important to train the farmers to be able to sustain Jamaica’s own agricultural sector by tapping into the food import market.
“. We know that Jamaica spends in excess of a billion US dollars a year importing food to Jamaica and we know that it is an incredible market for farmers to access. The types of produce to access the market are high value crops. We have to improve our technology and our practices,” he said.
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