Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, JC Hutchinson (left) and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Peter Thompson, examine a field of scotch bonnet peppers, during a tour of the Yallahs Agro Park in St Thomas on February 14. (Photo: JIS)

Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Stephen Wedderburn, has urged students at the Knox Community College in Manchester to start planning careers in agriculture in order to create jobs for themselves and help build the economy.

He said the business of agriculture should be taken seriously and stressed the importance of agriculture as a career choice for young people. Wedderburn said promotion of the use of technology as a critical tool in growing the sector is one of the key priorities of the ministry which recognises that agricultural technology in the school curriculum is critical to the modernisation of the sector.

He was speaking at the institution’s third annual ‘Agri Expo’, held at its Spalding campus on April 5. “It is technology that is going to help us sow faster, reap more efficiently, and move primary agricultural produce up along the value chain to agro-processing and packaging, which are essential to adding value and expanding revenue in the sector,” he stated.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Young-people-can-make-money-out-of-agriculture_95194