THE EDITOR, Sir:
IT IS a fact that with all the progress Jamaica has made under P. J. Patterson as Prime Minister, unemployment and crime and violence have made many of his success look small.
It is also a fact that many Jamaicans are and will be looking to the new Prime Minister to help make life better for them by providing employment and skills-training for the youths.
I am, therefore, making this suggestion for which I take no credit. It is the view of a colleague of mine that a portion of the billions of dollars owned by the National Housing Trust be used to set-up factories for agro-industries, thereby producing employment.
The suggestion is to use whatever main crop a parish has, such as banana in St Mary, Irish potato in Manchester and yam in Trelawny and make factories in the respective parishes where the main products are made into by-products, such as banana chips, potato chips etc., and at the same time the persons responsible can seek markets for the products.
Work will be provided at at least two levels, at the planting or producing and at the by-product or factory level.
With production at a high level all year round, coupled with jobs in the tourism and building industries, a dent will be made in the unemployment rate and the crime will be greatly reduced.
I am, etc.,
LOIS BRYCE
Falmouth P.O.
