Principal Shernet Clarke Tomlinson is very aware of the many negative stereotypes people have of the West Kingston inner city in which the Edward Seaga Primary School is located.

However, she told The Gleaner that those negative perceptions are not allowed to seep into the environment of the school she has headed for the last two years.

Scores of environmental wardens have been certified and recognised for their involvement in community sanitation, by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

The JSIF’s Environmental Wardens Programme was implemented under the second phase of the Government of Jamaica Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP 2) Solid Waste Management cycle four sub-project.

Work is under way on the construction of  a road to serve farmers in Mendez Town in Lowe River, Trelawny.

The $120 million project is being undertaken by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) in partnership with the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, with Contracts Enterprise as the contracting entity.

The Government has set aside $1 billion to complete activities under the Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP) II during the 2024/25 fiscal year.

The project, being implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), seeks to enhance access to basic urban infrastructure and services, and contribute towards increased community safety in selected economically vulnerable and socially volatile communities in Jamaica.

The World Bank has identified tourism and agriculture as two of the main drivers of economic development for Jamaica and will focus its investments on these two subsectors under the second Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI 2), following the success of REDI 1 which ended in 2016-2017.

The planned upgrade of the tilapia hatchery at Twickenham Park in St Catherine, is expected to bring an end to supply concerns on the local market, while boosting inventory for Jamaica to re-enter the export market for freshwater fish.

The latter is a target Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green hopes to hit by 2029 but in the interim, his focus is on growing the local freshwater fish stock to increase the National Fisheries Authority’s (NFA) coverage of the market from 35 per cent to full supply.