As the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries continues to advocate for Jamaicans to become more consistent and resilient in growing what they eat, the ministry has lauded the efforts of the J Wray & Nephew Foundation (JWNF), to provide sustainable economic activities for the community of Elim, in St Elizabeth.

The JWN Foundation turned over its $47-million Elim agro-processing plant, which it unveiled in April of this year, to the Sydney Pagon STEM Academy in St Elizabeth, under a special memorandum of understanding last Wednesday (November 30).

However, while the school will take over the management of the facility, JWNF will continue to support the maintenance and continued upgrading of the plant to reach best standards and industry best practices.

The 2,200 sq. ft. facility was donated by the JWN Foundation following the closure of the Appleton Estates Sugar Factory in 2020.

The foundation deemed it fit to continue to support the parish’s farmers, who now have the opportunity to offer value-added products on top of their primary crop production.

In his address, guest speaker Pearnel Charles Jr, the minister of agriculture and fisheries, said the facility would allow for students at the Sydney Pagon STEM Academy and persons in the community to be exposed to the training that will challenge them to become even more creative than they already are.

“If you are going to grow smart, it’s not just grow more, it is how you grow so that you don’t lose or waste. You don’t want to have more production and more waste. You want to have more production and less waste, which means greater output,” Charles said.

The objective, he said, is to provide consistency, high quality, all the time, all year round. 

“To do so, it means you got to do a couple things, you have to build resilience in the structure and the infrastructure and the human resources in the capacity for you to produce and, very importantly, for you to produce value added products,” Charles said.

Charles further issued a call for every Jamaican citizen to play their role in the movement towards food security, and reduce post-harvest losses.

Chairman of the foundation, Jean-Philippe Beyer, said they understood and firmly believed that the economic empowerment of communities is key to their positive development.

“While we had no choice, unfortunately, but to close the sugar factory, we also wanted to ensure that the community would have the opportunity to produce more financially viable products that came and create marketable and profitable product,” Beyer said.

“I am pleased to be back here seven months later with you and to confirm that we have delivered on our promises, and that we are ready to sign this memorandum of understanding.  We are confident that they will ensure that the plant becomes not only economically sustainable, but in addition to the community but an economic success and probably an inspiration to other communities to show what can be done,” Beyer added.

The agro-processing plant can dry, mill, package and store, using its state-of-the-art equipment. A full solar system with enough battery storage to support the operation of the entire plant has also been installed.

Students pursuing agro processing at Sydney Pagon STEM Academy also have the opportunity for a Level three certification at the NCTVET level.

Beyer indicated that as part of this effort to ensure sustainability, they are also in discussions with the tourism sector to purchase products.

“Interested persons are really waiting for us now to be able to come up and tell us exactly what we can produce, into what quantities as soon as possible,” he said.