Camille Needham, executive director of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), is encouraging members to partner with FarmLinkr.com by sponsoring and planting fruit trees, particularly lemons and limes on Labour Day (May 23).

“We strongly endorse this project which will provide us with a guaranteed and consistent supply of limes and lemons that are so often in short supply, and at a significantly discounted rate,” she said.

For her part Shelly Heaven, founder and CEO at FarmLinkr, noted that “…our Plant a Food Tree campaign with a ‘twist of lemon’ for Labour Day was specifically designed for our hospitality industry partners, who we have been supplying with Farm Fresh produce for a number of years now” 

She noted that, “In light of the ongoing problem with the low supply of limes and lemons; we look forward to welcoming players from the hospitality sector to sponsor lemon and lime fruit trees in this campaign. This is a remarkably simple and effective way to sustainably stabilise supply of these key citrus products to meet year round demand in the industry.”

The trees are expected to bear fruit within 12-18 months for lemons and 18-24 months for limes.

Each tree is expected to produce approximately 60 pounds (or 27 kilograms) of fruit each year, so 50 trees will yield approximately 3,000 pounds (1360 kg) of fruit. This information is to be used as a guide to the hotels on how many trees to sponsor based on their demand. 

“I am really excited to work with the JHTA, as it allows us to continue building our mutually beneficial relationship with the Hospitality Sector that we have formed over the years.  Once we get the industry players on board, we are confident that this initiative will bring a lasting solution to a real and long standing problem.” remarked Heaven.

The campaign is being organised in collaboration with Nature Touch Farms in Windsor Castle, Portland.