National Summit Highlights Farmers’ Month Activities During April

JAMAICA:  The second National Agricultural Production and Food Security Summit is among the activities organized by the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) to commemorate Farmers’ Month 2016, during April.
The summit is slated to be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on April 21 under the theme: ‘Grow What We Eat…Eat What We Grow through Climate-Smart Agriculture’.
Details of the event and other activities were outlined by JAS President, Norman Grant, during the official launch of Farmers’ Month at the organization’s head office in downtown Kingston, on April 6.
The summit will feature discussions on climate change and its global implications for agriculture.
The topics will include: ‘An Analysis of Climate Change in the Jamaican Agriculture Sector’; ‘Practices, Programmes, Policies and Education relating to Agriculture and Climate Change’; ‘Climate-Smart Agriculture and Technology in Jamaica’; ‘Organic Farm Practices and Climate-Smart Agriculture -The Opportunity for Jamaica’; and ‘Emerging Business/Financial Opportunities and Threats’.
Participants will also explore the extent to which practical adaptable climate-smart methodologies and technology solutions can be provided to the nation’s farmers.
Other activities throughout the month include plant propagation training in Enfield, St. Mary on April 13; farmers’ information sessions at the Devon Community Centre in Manchester on April 19, and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in Kingston on April 21; and a farmers’ market to be staged at the JAS Parish Office in Morant Bay, St. Thomas on April 29.
This year’s commemoration of Farmers’ Month marks the 33^rd consecutive staging since its launch by the JAS, to recognize the contribution of Jamaica’s farmers to national development.
Activities are staged under the theme: ‘Grow What We Eat…Eat What We Grow’.