Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth & Sports

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Scores of students and community groups are expected to turn out in their numbers to plant fruit tree seedlings and create a nursery at the Buff Bay High School in Portland, which is the national project for Labour Day 2008.

Speaking at a JIS Think Tank yesterday (May 19), Chairman of the Project Sub-committee of the National Labour Day Secretariat, Dorothea Clarke said that the scope of work would entail the planting of vegetable beds and seedlings such as callaloo, pak choi, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and pineapples.

"We will be putting in a nursery, which will be a learning tool and a structure to provide seedlings for both the school's garden and the farmers in the surrounding area," Ms. Clarke informed.

A wall will be built around the nursery to replace the dilapidated fencing and to secure the area from praedial larceny.

The wall, Ms. Clarke said, has been designed by the National Works Agency (NWA) to withstand any earth movement and bad weather. Work on the wall will begin a few days before Labour Day and will be monitored by the NWA and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) up to its completion.

The Committee will also be spearheading the planting of 70 fruit trees and the setting up of a nursery at the Tranquility Primary school.

Ms. Clarke said that a 650-gallon storage tank will be provided to supply water for the nursery.

As it relates to the sustenance of the projects, she told JIS News that personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) would visit the schools regularly and give technical advice on the proper nurturing of the plants.

According to Ms. Clarke, the main aim of this year's Labour Day initiative was to secure the country's food supply and replenish what was lost due to natural disasters in the past years.

"I am appealing to Jamaica to go out and plant, get your containers, get your seeds and start your little gardens because we realize that food security is going to become even more important and it is imperative that Jamaica learn to feed ourselves, and eat what we grow and grow what we eat," she urged.

Labour Day 2008, is being observed on May 23 under the theme: 'Eat what we grow and grow what we eat'. The observance will be the springboard to encourage persons to cultivate backyard gardens, plant fruit trees, and expand the use of greenhouse technology in agricultural production.

The National Labour Day project for last year was the rehabilitation of the Bath Botanical Gardens in St. Thomas.

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