THE HILLS of St. Thomas will not only be known for the world-famous Blue Montain Coffee if the Trinity-ville Management Committee's (TMC) juicy vision comes to greater fruition.
Through its Wine/Juice Producing Project, the TMC is quiet-ly tapping into a relatively untested reservoir of producing local wines and juices from local fruit for a local market.
"It is a project that is em-powering the persons in the community and it will put St. Thomas on the map," said TMC chairman, Reverend Franklin Small, on Tuesday.
Reverend Small was speaking at a signing ceremony at the Japanese Embassy where TMC was presented with a grant of US$90,000 (J$5.8 million) by the Japanese Government to construct, expand and relocate the training and production centre in Trinityville.
Hurricane Ivan caused damage to the wine-making facility last year and the remainder of the plant is being threatened by the neighbouring Negro River.
Some 85 community members, males and females have been trained in wine-making and other skills under a joint effort by the Japanese Government, the HEART Trust/NTA and the TMC.
A desire to contribute to the development of Trinityville and its environs, and the zeal to equip youngsters with life skills were the impetus behind TMC embarking on their project three years ago.
Then, like this time around, it was the Japanese Government that injected money to the tune of JA$4 million to start the journey.
ON THE MARKET
The Trinityville wines are already on the shelves in the community and TMC says they hope to go islandwide soon. Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Sakurai testified that the wine is good.
"I have had the pleasure of tasting the first batch of wines made from cherry and otaheiti apples after which I am convinced that we can get more than just coffee from the east of Jamaica," he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Kern Spencer, Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, lauded the efforts of TMC and said he hopes other Jamaicans will start similar projects.
"It will, among other things, create a spin-off for employment and income generation and, very importantly, provide an opportunity to earn much-needed foreign exchange," Senator Spencer said.
