Stanmark rolls out tree-planting campaign to boost ackee availability
Company encouraging J’cans to cash in on nat’l fruit
Published:Monday | May 1, 2023 | 1:03 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Local manufacturer Stanmark Processors Company Limited is seeking to boost Jamaica’s ackee supply by planting 1,000 trees within the year.
Shona Sadler-Campbell, the chief operations officer of the 32-year-old family-owned company, lamented that the island’s supply of ackee was falling.
Speaking with The Gleaner on Friday on day two of Expo Jamaica 2023 at the National Arena, Sadler-Campbell stated that the tree-planting initiative would aim to not only replace the older trees across the island, but to increase awareness of the need for more ackee trees and to promote sustainable living as the trees can become a significant source of income for many households.
“One day, a young lady said to me [that] her tree, basically, pay her school fee [and] buy her uniform. She has two trees in her yard. Imagine if you had three or four, or even if you had one tree, at least you have something [that] once it gets off the ground, four to five years, you have something that you never had to put much effort into [which can generate an income],” she said.
Stanmark Processors is headquartered in Yallahs, St Thomas, but also operates facilities in Morgan’s Pass, Clarendon, and Darliston, Westmoreland. It recently acquired a location in St Elizabeth.
Sadler-Campbell said that the trees will be made available for adoption to interested citizens across these parishes to facilitate the build-out of small orchards.
Potted ackee trees for the purpose of backyard planting were also distributed to individuals who visited the company’s booth at the four-day trade show.
“Everybody must have an ackee tree in their home so that they could make a little money off it sometimes and they can eat from it,” said Michelle Sadler, general manager at Stanmark.
She added that students from Knockalva Polytechnic College in Hanover have partnered with the company to achieve this goal.
Sadler-Campbell bemoaned the company’s annual disposal of thousands of ackee seeds. She stated that this was also a reason for driving the initiative forward to limit waste.
She continued by saying that even if just half of the 1,000 trees provided survived, the country would still have 500 new trees.
Stanmark manufactures and produces food products such as canned fruits and vegetables such as ackee, callaloo, breadfruit, and pineapple; canned mango, pineapple, carrot, and fruit punch juices; sausages and seasonings; peppers; and syrups, among other things.
The long-term objective is to plant as many ackee trees as possible throughout Jamaica, particularly near the gateways to the island, including in capital city Kingston, so that visitors will see the trees, given that ackee is Jamaica’s national fruit.
“It’s our national dish. ... I went to Spain into a [city] called Seville, and when I went to Seville, everywhere I went I saw a Seville orange [tree] ... . When you drive through that [city], you see orange trees lining the roads. In the mornings, you see trucks driving through, People are picking Seville oranges off the road. Marmalade is one of their biggest products. This is Jamaica, why is it that we don’t have ackee trees growing on the side of the road. Why is it that I have to go 500 miles to find one?” she questioned.
She added that sometimes the company’s trucks have to venture into deep-rural St Elizabeth to get ackees and that the mainly old trees were no longer producing quality fruits.
Sadler-Campbell said that a few other companies had already expressed an interest in supporting the effort and have offered to provide technical expertise, cash, soil, and bags.