MORANT BAY, St Thomas — At a time when food security has become increasingly important, the manager and staff of Rural Agricultural Development Authority’s (RADA) St Thomas arm have earned high praise for their work.

The kudos were delivered at the most recent monthly meeting of the parish’s municipal corporation after Agriculture Manager Bevine Martin Dickinson gave a detailed report of the work being doing in St Thomas.

“I am very much pleased with the report because I have seen improvement in the parish where access to the extension officers is now easier and how the staff is currently extending themselves to share information,” said Councillor Hubert Williams (People’s National Party, White Horses Division) who is also a farmer.

He pointed out that availability of land in the parish has helped to boost farming, an improvement over previous years when several residents had been unable to engage in farming as there was not enough space available.

Councillor Marsha Francis (People’s National Party, Cedar Valley Division) also commended Martin Dickenson and her team for excellent management of the RADA office.

“I was in my division last week while an extension officer and his assistant were there conducting an informal training [session] and sharing tips with the Cedar Valley farmers… It was a good look,” she said.

Francis added that she was able to introduce and recommend farmers for the training programmes and even have some officially registered with RADA.

During her report, Martin Dickenson highlighted some of the special programmes and projects that the office has implemented to facilitate agricultural enrichment activities that benefit farmers as well as other residents of the parish.

“The staff of RADA continue to conduct our training sessions, monitoring exercises for pests and disease, while providing farmers with the necessary information that they can use to take care of their crops and livestock,” she said.

According to her data, production in the parish continues to increase, as farmers are planting a wide range of vegetables such as cabbage, callaloo, string beans, broccoli and tomatoes.

Additionally, farmers are trying to produce hot peppers for both the local market and export.

RADA St Thomas has also made it possible to grow Irish potatoes on 15.9 hectares of land which has seen the participation of 124 farmers. These include 16 females under 35, an additional 30 females over 35 and 78 males. They successfully reaped 8.2 tonnes of potatoes from 1.5 hectares of land.

The office has also implemented a school feeding programme, supplying a total of four schools within the parish with fruit plates and fruit juices.

For Labour Day, the Forestry Department will be distributing seedlings for a tree planting project in partnership with the National Tree Planting Initiative. Residents who are interested may visit the RADA office where the seedlings will be distributed.