THE Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries will be providing support for the establishment of a proper school garden at the Beersheba Primary School in New Market, St Elizabeth.

Minister without Portfolio in the ministry, JC Hutchinson, said the project will ensure that students are exposed to agriculture from an early stage.

“We are going to be providing fencing, the seeds, fertiliser, and we are also going to look about providing a black tank and drip hose so that those of you who are here will start learning about agriculture. This is so that when you get out of school, we will make sure that we have persons who will continue in agriculture,” he noted.

He was speaking at a function held at the school last Friday to officially commission a water, energy and sanitation project into service.

Minister Hutchinson, who is also the member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North West where the school is located, noted that the crops to be planted will be used in the institution’s breakfast feeding programme.

“If you don’t get proper nutrition, you can’t learn… so what we are going to be doing (also) is to provide fruit juice for the breakfast programme,” he informed.

He welcomed the water, energy and sanitation project, which will benefit some 250 people, and implored the school community to take care of the equipment and facilities provided.

The $2.5-million project, undertaken by Rural Water Supply Limited, includes the construction of a tank, installation of water harvesting and solar energy-generating systems, and the renovation of bathroom facilities.