Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth & Sports

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Members of the government participating in the tree-planting exercise at the National Labour Day Project at the Buff Bay High School on Friday, May 23 From left are: Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange; Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Daryl Vaz; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Dr. Ken Baugh; Minister of Labour and Social Security, Pearnel Charles and Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton.

Labour Day work in Portland got off to an early start with projects at the Buff Bay High School and the Tranquility All Age School forming the major part of the activities as Portlanders highlighted this year's theme 'Eat what we grow. grow what we eat'.

The Buff Bay High School was the location for the National Labour Day Project, where some participants were busy planting fruit trees and vegetable seedlings, while others constructed a plant nursery from which seedlings will be made available to the school garden as well as to the wider community.

In addition to students and residents who turned out to participate in both projects, representatives of several organizations were present to provide support for the occasion. Among them were personnel from the Jamaica Defence Force, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), the Ministry of Education, the National Youth Service and the Jamaica 4H Club.

Ministers of Government also participated in the occasion including, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Dr. Ken Baugh; Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange; Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton; and Minister of Labour and Social Security, Pearnel Charles.

Similar activities took place at the Tranquility All Age School, where the Portland Parish Labour Day Project of tree and vegetable garden planting was worked on.

Ridley Badresingh, RADA Parish Manager for Portland directed the tree planting exercise for the national project, while Dennis Brown, Agronomist with the Ministry of Agriculture, supervised that process at the Tranquility All Age School.

Elsewhere in the parish, several other communities worked on projects involving tree planting, the cleaning up and beautification of community amenities, and the bushing of roadways.

The projects, which also involved the planting of fruit trees and vegetable seeds were done at the Windsor All Age School, Port Antonio High School, Manchioneal All Age School and Port Antonio Primary School in Eastern Portland, and Windsor Castle All Age School, Mount Pleasant All Age School and Mount Hermon Primary and Junior High School in Western Portland. Each school was provided with fruit trees and vegetable seedlings.

Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton underscored the importance of the national project, emphasizing that it was critical to the effort to achieve food security in the country.

Addressing a special function held at the Buff Bay High School to mark the occasion, Dr. Tufton said a total of 35,000 plants, and 200,000 seeds were distributed throughout the country to be used for Labour Day activities in the various communities.

In thanking the residents of the area and the various organizations which participated in the day's activities, he expressed the hope that the event would encourage young people in particular to get back to the basics of planting crops wherever they can.

Also speaking at the function Dr. Baugh said the project was designed to mobilize the collective will of the Jamaican people and asserted that the country must take advantage of food production to create opportunities for its people.

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