Lucea deputy mayor pushes agri for poverty reduction
Published:Tuesday | May 2, 2023 | 12:56 AM
WESTERN BUREau:
Lucea Deputy Mayor Andria Dehaney-Grant has declared that “agriculture is the greatest avenue through which we can build Jamaica”, while noting that the sector is key to the nation attaining food security.
“Agriculture can help to reduce poverty, raise incomes and improve food security,” said Dehaney-Grant, who is also councillor for the Sandy Bay division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC).
She was speaking at the second staging of the Knockalva Polytechnic College’s agricultural and educational ‘Farm Fest 2023’, which was staged on the school’s compound, in Hanover.
The event was held under the theme ‘Re-Imaging Agriculture for Sustainable Development’.
According to the deputy mayor, to be a farmer is to be a student forever as each new day brings new challenges in that field.
In speaking to the theme of the show, Dehaney-Grant argued that reimaging would mean that the students and instructors at the college are developing a new mental picture, new conceptions, new ideas, and new ways to go about their agricultural exploits, which, in the long run, will assist the farmers of the country in feeding the nation, sending their children to school, and allowing the country to grow economically.
“I want to commend the stakeholders in this institution for their vision of creating the necessary changes needed for the farmers of today and tomorrow to move forward,” said Dehaney-Grant, who further noted that the Knockalva Polytechnic College is proving to be one of the leading institutions in the agricultural sector nationally.
“The Knockalva Polytechnic College is a very valuable institution in our parish of Hanover as it is where we train and foster our young minds into creating a positive difference through agriculture,” she said.
According to Dehaney-Grant, dependence on foreign countries for food and energy is a recipe for bringing any nation down. Therefore, she is pleading with the Government to pay greater attention to investments in the agricultural sector to reimage it for sustainable growth.
In endorsing the Knockalva Polytechnic College and the Farm Fest event, she said that such an initiative coming out of the college could only grow from strength to strength. She further urged patrons to seek and take away something positive from the event.
“By that I mean find an idea that is being displayed here in farming, and go home and start your own little backyard garden, or containerised garden, and encourage others to do the same,” said Dehaney-Grant.