Visit to the Forestry Department February 10, 2022
Last Thursday, I visited the offices of the Forestry Department for the first time since assuming Ministerial responsibility for the Environment. it is a priority of mine to ensure that the agency (and several of its major projects) is indeed a critical pillar of our national development.
We toured the Central germination facility, and I got a quick tutorial on the plants, trees, and different types of soils and got a run down on the location of the out-nurseries; the 3 facilities are in Upper St. Andrew, Manchester and St. Ann.
They are moving in the right direction with the first world initiatives by a using state-of-the-art mist system which helps to reduce time spent on watering and frees staff to do other tasks as its automated. Importantly, it also reduces mortality rates for the plants.
I look forward to working with the board, the management team and the wider organisations to achieve the mandate of the organisation.