THE HUMAN Employment and Resource Training (HEART) Trust/the National Training Agency, has launched a new initiative - the Co-operative Training Programme for Agro Processing - to improve the level of competence among workers in the sector.
And according to Robert Gregory, the agency's Executive Director, improved productivity in agro processing will boost the economy.
He was speaking at the launch of the programme at the Hilton Kingston Hotel in New Kingston last week Friday.
Mr. Gregory said that while agriculture currently employs 20 per cent of the labour force and contributes about eight per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), agro-processing had the potential to be the "engine of growth" for the sector, especially given the significant numbers of unique Jamaican products.
The Co-operative Training Programme for Agro Processing is organised by HEART Trust's Ebony Park Academy in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Programme for Economic Competitiveness, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
First Secretary at the Canadian High Commission, Vivien Monteith, said that in the long term, the programme would contribute to a world-class agro-processing industry in Jamaica.
The persons enrolled in the programme are employed to agro-processing companies and are expected to complete their six-month course in February 2004.
Already 86 persons have completed training courses in introduction to food processing and introduction to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, under the programme. They were presented with certificates of achievement during the launch of the programme.
