One of the largest parishes known to Jamaica, St Elizabeth got its name from an early Governor- Sir Thomas Modyford’s wife, Lady Elizabeth Modyford. The parish capital is Black River and has several other important towns namely, Santa Cruz, Malvern, Junction and Balaclava. Locals refer to St. Elizabeth as ‘St Bess’ and is also known throughout the island as ‘the bread basket’ of the nation.

Dry grassland called savannahs; wetland, forests and scrub woodlands makes agriculture, fishing, food processing, tourism and other economic activities even easier. Over the years however, despite many occurrences such as drought, floods, praedial larceny and bush fires- St Elizabeth continues to maintain its reputation as being the bread basket parish of Jamaica producing just about 22 per cent of the national domestic food needs, through fruits and vegetables, poultry, beef and tubers.

Today, St Elizabeth is gradually making a name for itself in areas such as yam, sweet potato, cassava and dasheen production. The parish has also made significant strides in the areas of goat meat production with hundreds of small, in between and large farmers. We can only expect greater things for St. Bess.