Banana workers who were laid off from Eastern Banana Estate, St Thomas, await the start of the information fair, organised by the European Union Banana Support Programme at the Golden Grove Community Centre last Thursday. - JIS photo

GOLDEN GROVE, St Thomas:

Hundreds of banana workers whose jobs at Eastern Banana Estate in St Thomas were made redundant following the entity's closure attended an information fair at the Golden Grove Community Centre in the parish last Thursday.

The fair was staged to provide the former banana workers with assistance on employment options, as well as guidance on how best to manage their redundancy payments.

Organised by the Rural Diversification Programme of the European Union Banana Support Programme (EUBSP), the fair was the first in a series of initiatives aimed at sharing information with the displaced workers.

Income generation

A big part of the initiative is to show the workers how to access funding for income-generating projects through the European Union (EU), as well as providing them with information on benefits to be derived through the EUBSP.

Ivan Bennett, a banana worker, who was employed to Eastern Banana Estates for 26 years, said he was able to get "vital" information, which will help him to find alternative employment. He intimated that he was happy to learn about the certification programme offered by the HEART Trust/National Training Agency (NTA).

Bennett said he had plans to use his redundancy funds to start a pig-rearing business and undertake sugar-cane production.

Everton Parkes, rural develop-ment officer of the RDP, said the EUBSP and other government and private sector agencies would be setting up a database with information on the workers, so they could be incorporated into other projects and activities in the parish.

He informed that several RDP grant projects would be implemented in St Thomas shortly.

These include the Banana Sector Retraining Project to be implemented by HEART Trust/NTA, the Strengthening Capacities for Sustainable Livelihoods Project to be implemented by Chris-tian Aid and the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre.

- JIS