In the spirit of giving back to Jamaica and other disadvantaged communities Marley Natural has created a philanthropic initiative called Rise Up™. This endeavor will help fund a series of carefully curated projects around the world including Farm Up Jamaica’s Organic Farming Projects. Rise Up ™ aims to reflect Bob Marley’s vision for an inclusive and compassionate community where people take care of each other and the environment. “It is extremely important to us and to the family that Marley Natural operates with integrity and a strong social conscience,” said Tahira Rehmatullah, General Manager of Marley Natural.

Jamaica imports 1billion dollars’ worth of food, annually, due to inactivity within the agricultural sector; a great deal of farms are currently inactive and agriculture students are graduating into their fields with little work prospects because of this. The profession of farming is even being looked down upon because of the lack of opportunities within this sector. If nothing is done, Jamaica’s food security will remain in a state of emergency as imports increase and opportunities continue to diminish.

Farm Up Jamaica Ltd. was created to assist existing farmers make rapid and meaningful strides in the cultivation of nutritious, organic, and affordable food, while inspiring the next generation of future farmers. Since Jamaican farmers are an aging population, there is a very real need for a new group of agriculturists who love to farm. Agriculture students are Jamaica’s future and they are inspiring the entire nation to continue with climate-smart farming, which in turn will help to realize the foundation’s larger mission: to help balance the Jamaican economy by reducing the importation of foreign food, creating green jobs, reducing crime, protecting the environment and safe-guarding food security. Farm Up provides comprehensive assistance by securing markets both locally and internationally, subsidizing the preparation of land, building access roads, providing machinery and irrigation, adding surveillance systems to combat praedial larceny, and providing seeds, harvesting, and transportation of food to buyers. The organization’s focus on climate-smart biodiversity aims to provide nutritious food while creating a platform for economic advancement to positively impact the Jamaican economy.

More details about Rise Up are available at www.marleynatural.com/riseup.