Noranda pleased with Minard Livestock Show's growth

BROWNS TOWN, St Ann:

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR for Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Company, Delroy Dell, has said that the Minard Livestock Show, held each year in St Ann, continues to stimulate and encourage interest and support for the cattle industry at a time when Jamaica needs to reduce its reliance on imported beef.

Speaking at the 14th show and beef festival held at Minard Estate, Brown's Town on Thursday, Dell told the large crowds attending the event that Minard had grown to become not only a showpiece for Jamaica, but for the Caribbean livestock sector.

Tracking the development of the annual exhibition from 1997, when it started with Kaiser Bauxite as its main sponsor, he said that it was easy for Noranda Bauxite, on assuming ownership of the bauxite company in 2009, to maintain the partnership as the show reflected the synergies that exist between agriculture and the bauxite industry.

Showing interest

In that regard, he said he was pleased to note that farmers in the bauxite-mining areas of St Ann are now showing interest in utilising rehabilitated mined-out pits as pasture land.

Noranda's involvement was commended by Minister of Agriculture Robert Montague and the chairman of the show committee, Edwin Gayle, who welcomed the company as a major sponsor.

An interesting feature of the show was the large number of students who participated in cattle judging, 4-H displays, essay competitions, and the 'calf scrambles', where the students competed to catch 20 calves, with the winners taking home the animals as prizes.

Dell commended the organisers on the involvement of the schools, pointing out that Noranda had been introducing greenhouse technology at high-school level by building greenhouses at York Castle, Aboukir, Brown's Town, and Aabbuthnott Gallimore this year, with plans to extend this to a number of other schools in St Ann in 2012.