Ruth Howard, Freelance Writer

Some members of the Bath Women's Collective in Bath, St Thomas, pose with baked products they've made for sale. The women are among more than 2,000 women across the island who are using Jamaican produce in unusual ways, with training from the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA). From left, Gloria Williams, Diana Walker, Diana Blake, Charlene Gabas, Eutie Davis, Maureen Harris, Sonia Lindo and Ina Forsythe. - Contributed

Give them a jackfruit and they'll find a hundred ways to cook it, bake it, stew it, and squeeze it into drinks.

In fact, hand them any kind of local fruit or vegetable and the women of the Home Economics Division of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) can stretch it into ways uncommon to Jamaican cuisine. Gloria Williams, for one, makes a wicked aloe vera (sinkle bible) wine. Guided by RADA officers, Williams, and other members of the Bath Women's Collective in this sleepy eastern St Thomas town, have been turning cashew, breadfruit, mint and just about anything that grows around them into wines and liqueurs.

Like the more than 2,000 women belonging to 78 RADA groups across the island, members of the collective have been exercising their creative genius in the areas of agro-processing, producing guava cheese, plantain and otaheite chutney, breadfruit flour, cassava bread, jams, jellies, preserves, and a wide range of other items.

In each parish

The department has officers in each parish who form small groups and lead training programmes that enable Jamaican women to exercise their creative genius in home management. The programme includes seminars to teach cooking, family life, nutrition, personal hygiene, deportment and more, explains Gloria Fairweather, retired head of RADA's Home Economics Division in St Thomas.

"We teach them the social graces - how to set a table, how to eat with a knife and other table manners. It may seem simple, but they welcome the information."

Lorna Gooden, who oversees the training officers, adds that the nature of the training depends on the individual groups. "It's a matter of teaching them how to use what they have."

Usefulness of local foods

In a time when the world's economy is experiencing turbulence, and Jamaicans are being encouraged to grow what they eat and eat what they grow, these groups are especially relevant because they emphasise the usefulness of local foods and also provide participants, most of whom are unemployed, with a possible source of income, says Gooden.

"We encourage them to start cottage industries," says Gooden. There are about seven factories operating across the island as a result of training through RADA's economics groups, she adds, pointing to the bammy-producing facility in Flower Hill, Montego Bay; a peanut processing plant in Lime Tree Garden, St Ann; and Twickenham Industry (Spanish Town), which she describes as "a model project for small businesses to emulate," as three well-known examples.

In addition to providing skills training for unemployed women, Gooden says that these home economics groups also encourage women to stay in the rural areas to help build their communities. "We have to try to keep the people within their communities, too many of them are unemployed or going into situations where they are underpaid."

Beverly Darby-Collins, RADA's Senior Regional Home Economics Officer for Eastern Jamaica, agrees. Participation in these groups sometimes helps to stem the rural-urban drift that usually occurs in small rural communities, she says. It also boosts the confidence of participants who can generate income and win recognition and awards in culinary competitions like the Jamaica Cultural Development Commissions (JCDC) Festival of Foods.

Enhances life

Audrey Morgan, a seven-year member of the Needham Pen Women's Group in St Thomas, says, "Personally, it enhances my life and makes me feel like I have something to live for, knowing that there is so much in me and I can achieve." In last year's JCDC Festival of Foods, Morgan won four gold medals for her cho cho cheese fruity cake, upside down apple pumpkin cake, banana wine and for using Splenda (a sugar-free substitute) in her creations.

Always impressed

Culinary arts specialist for the JCDC, Pamela Powell, says she is always impressed by the creativity and versatility that these groups add to the annual JCDC Culinary Arts Competition. "The groups tend to have variety and are able to enter more categories. A lot of them have done extremely well."

The overall aim is to empower women while enriching the Jamaican economy, says Darby-Collins. "If small businesses can meet local demands, then we can allow the larger establishments to take care of exports," she says, adding that having local demands met by local producers would greatly benefit the country, and that this potential resides in these small home economics groups.

The value of these home economics groups to participants is immeasurable, says Duncan. "If we were not there doing the job, there probably wouldn't be anybody else. You find that these people are so enthused about the whole idea of learning a skill. It's like a second chance for them."

Jennifer Williams, RADA's home economics officer for Montego Bay, points to some of the practical benefits. "Where home gardens are concerned, it can really cut down on the overall cost of food, and training in home economics and food and nutrition allows them to be able to prepare more nutritional, economic meals." She adds that the employment opportunities created by these groups help participants to more effectively deal with the high cost of living.

Sixty-year-old Cinderella Anderson, another beneficiary of the Home Economics programme, tells the story of how joining the Mango Valley RADA Women's Group in St Mary has impacted her life: "I married young, so I didn't get all the schooling I wanted. I remember one day I read in The Gleaner that a RADA officer would be coming to St Mary. So, I went in search of that officer, and asked them to come and help us in Mango Valley.

Great impact

They came and started the group, and when I look at myself and how far I've come, this group has made a great impact on my life."

Through her association with the RADA women's group, Anderson became president of the Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers. She later became the vice-president of the Caribbean Network of Rural Women Producers and also became trustee of that organisation.

Her success story does not end there. "I have my own line of products (processing kola nut - commonly called Bissy)." In addition, the wider Mango Valley community has benefited from the home economics group. "There wasn't anything going on in Mango Valley until RADA and HEART came to our rescue. Because of them, I am telling you, Mango Valley has come out of a hole." Anderson and a group of women in the community recently opened their own agro-processing factory.

Gratification

Shereefa Lesley, home economics officer for St Mary, adds that the benefits go both ways, since the officers also garner a wealth of information from participants. She says that she gets the most gratification from seeing the women develop self-confidence and realise the vast reserves of creativity within themselves.

"It's really just about bringing out what's already in them," says Lesley. "They are normally shy, but we encourage them to set up displays at agricultural shows and enter competitions. You feel so good when they come and say, "Ms Lesley, thank you for pushing me to do this"."

Paulette Duncan agrees. "Sometimes they teach you too, because the things that you see them do, some craftwork that I've never seen before, you see it coming out of these groups. You go in, go to their level, and find that they are really happy and glad to learn and develop. That's empowerment enough."

Funds not available

Still, JCDC's, Pamella Powell says she would like to see more of these groups establish themselves as income-earning entities. Gooden explains that this is one of the main challenges facing the RADA Home Economics Department, because funds to establish these cottage industries and factories are not readily available.

"Agro-processing is not cheap," says Gooden. "You have to use tailor-steel equipment and follow international standards and regulations." As a result, Gooden says that funding has to be solicited from partners such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund.

"It's worth the effort," reckons Gloria Fairweather. "The end product is to create a better life for the women and their families. When you teach women, it's their families who benefit because they become better homemakers, wives, mothers and they develop a higher self esteem."