Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
Fruits and vegetables on display depicting our 40th Anniversary of Independence on Tuesday at Denbigh.Claude Wilson, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson thinks more of the nation's young people need to get involved in agriculture if the country is to keep pace with global changes taking place through the use of technology in agriculture.
"The farmers are now between the ages of 40-70 years so we have to get some young people in the system," Prime Minister Patterson said, while addressing the 50th Denbigh Agricultural Show, in Clarendon, earlier this week. "This is why we are providing increased opportunity for training, and financial and technical assistance to meet the urgent needs for more young persons to become involved in agricultural production".
The PM specifically challenged the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president, Bobby Pottinger to get more young people into the JAS so that, "when the time comes and you pass on they would have been ready and equipped to take on the mantle of leadership".
Mr. Patterson reiterated that his government is providing training and technical assistance, improved access to credit, and improved training and special agricultural projects for our youths. "We are seeking to give full support to the youth clubs, the 4H Clubs through a programme of training for young Jamaicans between the ages of 9 and 25 years," he said.
According to the Prime Minister, whereas when slavery was abolished, our ancestors went as far away from the plantations as their feet could take them (into the hills), "nowadays that migration is taken place in reverse, particularly among our young people, who yearn for the brighter lights and are moving from rural Jamaica into urban communities," he said.
"We are never going to be able to deal with some of the needs for physical infrastructure in the rural communities or some of the social problems which are being manifested in these areas in the form of crime and violence unless we are able to stem rural migration," the Prime Minister added.
A focus on Youth in Agriculture and the achievements of the 4-H Club movement were the emphasis of the second day of the Denbigh Show.
