Press Release
USAID, Ministry of Agriculture and Heart/NTA unveil new agriculture certification program
New program will train Jamaicans in greenhouse fabrication and protected agriculture practices to respond to evolving needs of agriculture sector
Clarendon, Jamaica |
Friday, July 18, 2008
USAID Protected Areas and Rural Enterprise Project
Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture and Karen Hilliard, USAID Mission Director, join partners in declaring this high tunnel greenhouse open. (L-R) Mr. Horace Fisher, President, Mocho Community Council; Mr.Leo Lambert, JAMALCO; Mr.Donald Foster, Executive Director, HEART NTA; Dr Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture; Karen Hilliard, USAID Mission Director; Mr. Dermon Spence, Manager Ebony Park.
The Ebony Park HEART Academy in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and USAID’s Jamaica Farmers Access to Regional Markets project (JA FARMS) held an official launch of their Modified Environment Agriculture certification program.
Karen Hilliard, Mission Director of USAID/Jamaica, presented Dr. the Honorable Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture with a copy of a protected agriculture training manual that will compliment the curriculum developed for the new program. The certification program will train Jamaicans in greenhouse fabrication and protected agriculture horticultural practices to respond to the evolving needs of the agriculture sector. Competencies that will be covered include: plant growing environment, structure and systems, plant nutrition and fertilization, integrated pest management and crop culture.
The Ebony Park Academy is the flagship training institution for agriculture in the HEART Trust/NTA and boasts state-of-the art facilities for the training and certification of individuals. The academy in its 20-year history has enjoyed various partnerships with the private and public sectors to boost training in agriculture. Ebony Park Academy and RADA both play critical roles in ensuring the sustainability of the growing sub- sector through appropriate knowledge and technology transfer. Representatives from Ebony Park thanked USAID for positioning the program to meet the growing demand for skilled workers for both greenhouse fabrication and horticulture practices.
According to Dr. Hilliard, “By integrating the use of sustainable resource management practices into agricultural programs farmers, distributors and rural communities are able to increase their agricultural productivity, competitiveness and access to local and export markets.”
USAID’s JA FARMS project seeks to increase food security in Jamaica by strengthening networks of viable agricultural supply meeting domestic and export markets for fresh fruit and vegetables while building capacity within the Ministry of Agriculture to better address unsustainable agricultural practices, promote greenhouse technology and facilitate appropriate technology transfer to the sub-sector. Ebony Park Academy and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority both play critical roles in ensuring the sustainability of the growing sub- sector through appropriate knowledge and technology transfer.