PORT ANTONIO:
TWO HUNDRED and thirty-one employees of the country's three major banana farms have successfully completed a training course under the European Union (EU)-sponsored Worker Education Programme.
The workers were presented with certificates at a graduation ceremony at the White Hall Great House in St. Mary, recently.
The course which commenced in January 2001, provided training in the areas of numeracy, literacy, life skills and computer literacy, and involved employees from the St. Mary Banana Estate, Eastern Banana Estate and Victoria Banana Estate.
Katherine Smith, Natural Resources and Rural Develop-ment Attaché with the delegation of the European Commission to Jamaica, who deputised for Mr. Gerd Jarchow, Head of the Delegation, said the European Commission was pleased to be associated with the training programme, and commended the participants for completing the exercise.
She noted that the training would go a far way in preparing the banana industry to meet the challenges confronting it in the global economy, adding that it also served to equip them with some of the skills that will enhance their own personal development.
Observing that the realities of the current global market have made it extremely necessary to guard against complacency in production, Miss Smith said the European Union has recognised that its assistance to the banana industry in Jamaica must be broader than simply increasing productivity.
She said that this was the reason for the introduction of the diversification component to the banana support programme, adding that this segment had intended to develop banana value-added products, as well as to stimulate other rural activities among farmers negatively affected by the changing banana industry.
In detailing the numerous types of assistance given to the banana industry by the European Union, through the banana support programme, Miss Smith said it has also funded a number of critical improvements to the existing wharf infrastructure of the country, including the provision of forklifts and weighing scales and over 50 refrigerated containers.
In encouraging the trainees to make the best use of the training they had received, she said the Workers Education Programme could be emulated by other industries in their effort to develop a competent and efficient work force to improve their productive capacity, and enhance their competitiveness in the global market place.
Other presenters at the graduation exercise included, Dr. Marshall Hall, Chairman of the Jamaica Producers Group and Vincent Thompson - Project Manager of the European Banana Support Programme.
They both thanked the European Union for the assistance it was providing for the local banana industry and congratulated the employees for the success they had achieved in the training programme.
