With Jamaica importing about 62 per cent of the food it currently consumes, the Church has turned to backyard gardening to curtail expenditure.

Dr Derrick Deslandes, director of the Centre for Excellence, said the country has reached crisis proportion, and that a special thrust was needed for the nation to feed itself.

''We imported US$24 million worth of plantain and banana chips into this country last year, and more productivity is required if we are going to deal with the problem of food security," Deslandes said.

He also told the audience that Irish potato importation was US$12 million for 2008, which showed clearly that, as a nation, production was inadequate.

Deslandes was speaking during the launch of the backyard garden project at the Spanish Town Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church in St Catherine on Saturday.

He said measures put in place by the Agriculture Ministry have resulted in zero importation of Irish potato since March but there was still need to produce more.

The project was launched by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), along with the SDA, which declared the aim is to have its 600 branches involved in backyard gardening.

rasbert.turner@gleanerjm.com