By Kevin Clarke, Gleaner Writer
Cavel Grayson (left) receives the Joseph Hanson Award from Michael Hanson at the recent 4-H Clubs' awards ceremony held at the Medallion Hall Hotel, St. Andrew. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
GETTING THE youth involved in agriculture was the apparent theme of the recent awards ceremony of the Jamaica 4-H Club, held at the Medallion Hall Hotel, Hope Road, St. Andrew.
The event saw seven scholarships and bursaries being handed out to students to attend the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE).
Dr. Fenton Ferguson, Junior Minister for Agriculture, who was guest speaker at the event, commended the 4-H movement for the many programmes it had put in place to aid national development.
"The 4-H Club, as a movement is best poised to deal with the modernisation of the agricultural sector," he said.
He emphasised that access to land must be high on the agenda, to allow young people to take part in agriculture. This access he said must be regulated and non-performance clauses put in place. He said that there should be access to credit which would allow young people to appreciate agriculture.
The Minister also noted that CASE was playing a major role in helping to create new innovations and that agriculture should no longer be seen as a "sector to mop up those who have failed at everything else" but as a science that must be practised by persons who are serious and trained if the country is to get the best results.
Present at the ceremony was newly-elected head of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant, who is also the chairman of the Board of Management of the 4-H club.
Proprietor of the Medallion Hall Hotel, Mr. Glen Bromfield, presented the club with a $25,000 donation, which he requested be put into a scholarship fund named after founder of the Club in Jamaica, Mr. Erwen Fletcher.
