Agriculture wasn’t the first career choice for Shaquille Morris, Ichon Gayle, and Ann-Marie Berlin. In fact, of the three residents of Elim in St Elizabeth, only Berlin had any exposure to the sector prior to now.

“I used to attend Elim Agricultural School, now Sydney Pagon High School,” 36-year-old Berlin told the

Jamaica Observer.

“I have a farming background, so that’s why I love to do agriculture. When you see all the things you can produce from agriculture and how other people can enjoy whatever you get from it, you can’t help but like it,” added Berlin, who said she worked at the KFC restaurant in Santa Cruz before successfully seeking employment at the recently opened Agricultural Research and Innovation Facility and processing plant in Elim.

Berlin said she got involved with the project when the foundation for the facility was being laid.

“So when I heard they needed persons to work once it was finished, I wrote an application letter and dropped it off, and here I am today. It’s very challenging because I’m the only female worker among the other five guys, but I manage same way and I’m a mother of two, so I have to try and balance both,” Berlin said.

“I do a little of everything. Basically everything the men do, I try to do, because I don’t want them to say because I’m a lady I can’t do it, so I always try to do it. If you see something you love to do, you should go ahead and do it. It doesn’t matter what others might say, and not because you’re a female, if you want to do something you go ahead and do it,” Berlin said.

The plant was built through a partnership between the University of the West Indies, Mona and the Colombian Government. It produces refined flour from cassava grown by farmers in the community. The processing is done by residents of Elim employed to the facility.

“Before the plant came about, I was going to an engineering school in Junction, just furthering my skills in automotive engineering and then I came here to work in maintenance,” Shaquille Morris, who is in his early 20s, told the

Observer.

Morris, who has been working at the plant for the past six months, said that because of his work ethic, he was taken onto the production line and now maintains the generator, as well as loads the cassava chips that are dried to make the flour.

He added that agro-food processing is a “worldwide ting” that will soon attract other young people like himself to work in the agriculture industry.

His colleague, 24-year-old Ichon Gayle, said the opportunity that the plant provides to people in the community is great.

“I decided to come and offer my services to the facility to help uplift the community,” he said.

Gayle, who loads the ‘hopper’, a machine that pushes cassava onto a conveyor belt for washing and grinding, stated that he was a construction worker before successfully applying for a job at the facility.