MANAGING Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) Omar Sweeney says over 800 Jamaicans have been employed under the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) project.

The World Bank-funded project, implemented in 2010, focuses on income generating interventions in the areas of agriculture and tourism, supported by the various linkages for marketing.

“Today, under the REDI programme, we have supported more than 844 persons, who are now employed to rural micro enterprises and groups that are engaged in the agriculture and tourism sectors,” he said.

He noted that “critical to the programme are the linkages, which will allow for persons to see their income being increased and additional jobs being created”.

Sweeney was speaking at the official handing over of a drip irrigation system and food safety facility at Braco Farms in Trelawny last week.

The initiative, funded by JSIF under the REDI project, involved collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Labour and Social Security, and the National Irrigation Commission Limited (NIC).

“This partnership…aims to address a common and often critical challenge facing agriculture…the challenge of inadequate irrigation for farmlands in the sector. In addition to improved access to water for irrigation, the project also supports the efficient and effective delivery of fertiliser inputs,” Sweeney said.

He said the intervention by JSIF is expected to boost production yield by more than 50 per cent.

A total of 475 farmers in Clarendon, St Elizabeth, St Catherine, Manchester, St Thomas, and Trelawny have benefited from the provision of irrigation infrastructure under REDI.

Sweeney said in addition to the installation of drip irrigation lines, 225 1,000-gallon water storage tanks have been donated to the farmers.

They have also received 190 fertigation kits and 190 forty-five gallon drums to store chemicals.