Shaw congratulates 4-H movement for promoting agriculture among youth

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon Audley Shaw, has congratulated the Jamaica 4-H Clubs for its role in promoting agriculture among the youth, noting that it has provided scholarships valued approximately $70 million over the past three years.
“It has disbursed 600 bursaries and scholarships to students pursing agriculture at the secondary and tertiary level,” Minister Shaw pointed out.
The agriculture minister was speaking at the Jamaica 4-H Clubs National Achievement Day Expo, held at the Denbigh Agricultural Showground in Clarendon, on April 5, 2019, under the theme ‘Eco-based Adaptation Strategies: a 4-H Response to Climate-Smart Agriculture’.
The expo saw the crowning of the 2019 National 4-H Boy and Girl of the Year, Sandray Miller and Imani Smith, each of who received a grand cash prize of $1 million, sponsored by the Ministry.
Minister Shaw encouraged the clubites to pursue excellence in whatever vocation they choose and not to allow anyone to meddle with their dreams.
Minister Shaw stated that in order to expand production, Government would be expanding the irrigation systems in Clarendon and St. Catherine and reiterated the need to not only increase primary production but to process some of what we grow.
He noted that the Ministry had made a submission to Cabinet, seeking to reverse plans to sell the nine-acre Agricultural Marketing Corporation (AMC) complex on Spanish Town Road in Kingston, which, he said, will be transformed into a modern agro-processing facility.
The complex was previously used to package exports and process produce for local distribution.
“We are creating a modern agro-processing centre [under] a public/private partnership [arrangement so] that every young person who wants factory space will be able to get it at the AMC,” he said.
Mr. Shaw indicated that other agro-processing centres will be established across the island.
The Jamaica 4-H Clubs movement is the second largest globally, behind the United States of America, with approximately 1,050 clubs and over 11,000 members.