Minister Shaw endorses staging of health, home and garden Expo

Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon Audley Shaw, has endorsed the 12th staging of the Health, Home and Garden Expo. “I want to commend the Health, Home and Garden team on its staging and, for the foresight and vision of fusing the focus on health with a family-focused entertainment, while supplying important information geared toward helping our families to live wholesome lives. Your team saw the need to help to drive home the message of wellness and healthy living given Jamaica’s quest, through the Ministry of Health and Wellness and, the HEART Foundation of Jamaica to inculcate this need into the psyche of our people,” the Minister said. The biennial exposition, which was born out of what was seen as a need for more clean family entertainment in Jamaica, encourages the development of beautiful homes, gardens and healthy lifestyles, and gives direct exposure to many Jamaican and international business enterprises. Minister Shaw who was speaking at the official opening of the expo at the National Arena, on Thursday, October 24, said that his Ministry is working with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the Ministry of Health and Wellness to develop a formal school-feeding programme where children are provided with more locally produced food. He informed that the Government has provided a substantial amount of resources to the programme with an increased budget of 47 per cent to $4.7 billion and, that the private sector is also integral to this effort. The Minister further said that the ministry has also enlisted the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to create a model for the programme. “It is important that we get to the point where our children are fed with more nutritious, locally grown produce. We have local crops such as pumpkin, potato and fruits that can be utilized in our school-feeding programme to nourish our children,” he added. The expo is being held under the theme ‘Positive Living’, and will run from Friday, October 25 through to Sunday, October 27 at the National Arena. -30-