Geoffrey Mendez, community relations officer at JISCO Alpart Jamaica, making a presentation of agriculture stimulus vouchers to Barbara Harris community representative (Photos: JISCO Alpart)

NAIN, St Elizabeth — JISCO Alpart Jamaica and its community partners, Manchester Plateau Community Council and Alpart Community Council, have assisted 130 farmers with an agricultural stimulus programme valued at $650,000.

The assistance has been channelled through the community councils’ business arm, Essex Valley Community & Associates.

A news release said the programme is designed to stimulate production for small farmers who operate within JISCO Alpart Jamaica Plateau Mining Area. Support came in the form of vouchers, for which the farmers can redeem fertilisers, seeds, broiler chicks, feeds, weedicides, pesticides etc at local farm stores. This is the first programme of this kind in the plateau mining area since the reopening of the Alpart alumina plant under its current owners, Chinese metals giant, JISCO.

Operations in the Manchester Plateau mining area cover 32 communities which are heavily dependent on agriculture. The release said JISCO also supports agriculture through the Rose Hill Water Harvesting Project with 11 greenhouses which are currently in production and another nine to come on stream in the near future. This is in partnership with the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/observer-central/jisco-alpart-jamaica-assists-130-farmers_134902