State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon Floyd Green (2nd left) converses with (from left) Rotary International Deputy District Governor, Beverley Miller, outgoing president of the Rotary Club of Spanish Town, Catherine Gregory, and President Elect Gail Dixon at the Rotary Club of Spanish Town Installation Dinner & Awards Ceremony, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Andrew on July 17.
State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says that agriculture is still a noble profession and is calling on Rotarians to help spread that message to our youths as the future of the sector resides with them.
“Our agricultural sector continues to be a critical sector for the Jamaican economy, but we have created a bad impression of it. The image that we have given our farmers in the past is not the image of the farmer today. I think the Rotary Club, in your excellent network, can help us to engage more young people to come into agriculture,” said Mr. Green.
He urged the Rotarians to take a closer look at the sector, and that if we really want to continue grow Jamaica we have to grow agriculture. He added that if done properly it is something that we can get significant resources from.
Minister Green made the call at the Rotary Club of Spanish Town Installation Dinner and Awards Ceremony, held at the Hotel Four Seasons in St. Andrew on July 17, where Gail Dixon was installed as the new President and will serve for the period 2019-2020.
The minister stated that if we are to get agriculture where we want it to be in this 21st century, we have to focus on research and development. He said that the old ways of doing agriculture will not work in these modern times as everything has changed even the agricultural processes, and this will also have to be changed.
“The good news is that we are doing something about it. Last year, we put $140 million into the Bodles Research Station to really re-energize and resuscitate that sector. This year, we are putting in over $200 million towards Bodles, because we want to once again become the centre of research and development for the Caribbean. This is a critical first step if we are to get agriculture right,” Minister Green informed.
He further added that the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is on a mission to revitalize and re-energize the agricultural sector through a number of other initiatives to build capacity and meet market demand, provide food security and earn foreign exchange.
The Minister lauded the work of the Rotary Club over the years in changing lives of vulnerable and different people in communities, and, in particular, the youths.
Rotary is a service club made up of individuals from different backgrounds with high ethical standards to embrace a common mission of service based on the principle “Service above Self” to help build goodwill and peace in the world.
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