MANDEVILLE, Manchester:
Minister of Agriculture, Dr Christopher Tufton, has called on the People's Co-operative Banks to devise new and easier ways to assess farmers for agricultural loans.
The minister, who was addressing the annual general meeting of the National People's Co-operative Bank held recently at the Kendal Conference Centre in Manchester, said that the small farmer, in seeking capital, must be evaluated by means other than the owning of property.
"If you are waiting on the small farmer to have a house or land title before you lend him, you won't lend any money because he does not have it," he said, noting that the bank would then have failed in its mandate as a community-based institution.
Pointing to the need to "re-calibrate how we approach risk in lending resources to those farmers," Dr Tufton said that best practices could be established and the farmers held to those practices in their respective areas of production. "Then use this as an assessment or monitoring system that will allow us to take a chance with that farmer," he suggested.
The minister urged the PC Banks to work with other partners so that the best service could be provided to the primary client, the small farmer.
- JIS News
Fire brigade headquarters to be relocated
HALF-WAY TREE, St Andrew:
The administrative headquarters of the Jamaica Fire Brigade is to be relocated to Hagley Park Road, Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, in July, says State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Local Government, Robert Montague.
In an interview with JIS News on Tuesday, Montague disclosed that the fire brigade will vacate space currently occupied at the International Seabed Authority at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, and move to 2 Hagley Park Road.
He pointed out that the new premises were occupied by the Ministry of Construction in the 1980s and, more recently, by the Ministry of Water and Housing.
The fire brigade had been searching for a new headquarters since it was informed by the National Land Agency, in 2004, that it should vacate the conference centre on Port Royal Street. The property is a designated United Nations (UN) building and cannot be occupied by non-UN agencies.
- JIS News
Pilot project to increase productivity
BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth:
The Giddy Hall Farmers' Association, in association with St Jago Farms Supplies Limited, earlier this month established a 'Pilot Project Plot' to increase productivity among its members.
The project is designed to demonstrate and evaluate the results of how the use of modern farming methods transform agriculture. Under this initiative, sweet potatoes will be cultivated using modern techniques.Sweet potato is the main cash crop of the area. Farmers cultivate various varieties which, although in demand, are not exported. The pilot project will introduce a new strain which is good both for the local and export markets.
- Analee Bernard
Goat revolving programme gets boost
MONTEGO BAY, St James:
Seven members of the St James 4-H Movement were recently presented with young female Nubian goats for rearing and breeding, as the club's goat revolving programme moved into its second year.
The project, which was launched in the parish, last year, is valued at some $200,000, with a total of 11 clubbites and two leaders benefiting so far.
Under the project, a young female goat is given to a clubbite, who rears the animal, and once it reaches an appropriate age, it is brought to the Montpelier 4-H Centre for breeding. The female offspring is passed on to another clubbite, with the cycle continuing.
Addressing participants at the handover ceremony at Montpelier, regional coordinator of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs, Barbara Lawrence, said that the primary objective of the programme was to engage young people in farming as a means of subsistence and to contribute to food security.
"They might not actually become farmers but they will at least have a first-hand knowledge and experience on farming, so that when they become adults, they too can support and feed themselves and others. It is good that our youngsters can realise that they, too, can play a part in ensuring that we have sufficient food to eat," Lawrence noted.
Motor-vehicle accident claims two
PEPPER, St Elizabeth:
Two persons were killed in a motor-vehicle accident in St Elizabeth Thursday evening, as the road carnage continues in the parish.
Twenty-eight-year-old Damion Jermaine Pothemon of Penn Street in Kingston 12 and an unidentified female were killed while three others were injured and rushed to hospital after a two-vehicle accident along the Pepper main road.
Police, who were on the scene, theorised that speeding and improper overtaking were the cause of the accident. The police also pointed out that the condition of the road at the time of the accident was wet and slippery as the area was experiencing heavy showers.
- Neville Paul