- Contributed
Senator Norman Grant, right, chairman of the Jamaica 4-H clubs listens keenly to Shavonne Buchanan, second right, a clubbite, as she makes a point about one of the rabbits that is being reared under the Rabbit Rearing Revolving Programme at the Jamaica 4-H clubs headquarters in Kingston. Looking on are Lenworth Fulton, left, executive director of the Jamaica 4-H clubs and little clubbite, Faithia Lawrence of the New Providence Primary school.
Dionne Rose, Contributor
AFTER 63 years of service in Jamaica, the 4-H clubs are still attracting thousands of young Jamaicans who gravitate toward the movement to learn valuable skills in agriculture and home economics among other areas.
To date, 4-H clubs boast a membership of 43,000 islandwide, representing about a 99 per cent increase over the membership in 2000.
This number includes 5,000 volunteers from the National Leaders Association and the Advisory Council and 750 active clubs.
Over the years, the 4-H movement has been training young persons from age nine upwards, in the skills of agriculture and home economics.
In a recent interview, chairman of the movement, Senator Norman Grant said that the organisation focuses on the mobilisation and education of young people in the age group nine to 25 years. He noted that emphasis is placed on agriculture, agro-related fields, home- making, social entrepreneurial and leadership skills that will enable young people to become productive, self-reliant and useful citizens.
He says that since 2000, the Jamaica 4-H movement has been reorganised to make it relevant to the current and changing needs of young persons. The movement, he explained, is now an arm of the Government that advocates and seeks to pioneer policies to facilitate youth development in agriculture.
Explaining the make-up of the organisation, Senator Grant said, "The Jamaica 4-H movement is a composition of three basic arms including the Island Advisory Council, comprising volunteers from across the island, the National Leaders Association, which is drawn from the schools or from the other clubs and the membership arm comprising the clubbites."
Senator Grant noted that the movement has been involved in the development of agriculture through a number of programmes. One such programme, is the Heifer Revolving Programme, which was introduced in 1975 as an effort between the Jamaica 4-H Clubs and the Lions Club of Kingston. The programme is now managed and funded by the 4-H movement.
"To date, under that programme some 500 heifers have been distributed to clubbites while about 2,000 animals have actually changed hands in the programme," he says.
Mr. Grant stated that once a member of the club gets one of these animals as soon as the animal reproduces, its offspring is given to another member of the club.
Other programmes include the Goat Revolving Programme, which operates under the same basis as the Heifer Revolving Programme. The programme began in 2001 and is open to all clubbites islandwide. Participants, however, must be 4-H members for a period of not less than one year. They must also be selected by a 4-H leader and be approved by the 4-H clubs on the grounds of interest in livestock.
"The emphasis has to be an appetite and interest in agriculture, an interest to make agriculture a career path," Senator Grant explained.
There is also the Rabbit Rearing Revolving Programme, which operates like the other livestock programmes. "This programme is an area that the youngest person can get involved in. These are high calibre breed rabbits," he said.
Senator Grant pointed out that the programme was revitalised by Governor-General, Sir Howard Cooke, who donated 20 rabbits to the organisation. "What we have at the 4-H clubs is in excess of 100 rabbits and we also have rabbits at Font Hill, St. Thomas, one of the 12 training centres."
TRACTOR OPERATION
There is also the Tractor Operation and Maintenance Programme, which is funded by the Japanese Government at a cost of US$51,254. It aims to provide training for clubbites between the ages of 18 and 25 years in the skill of tractor operation and maintenance.
Mr. Grant said that since its inception, the programme has received certification from the National Council on Technical Vocation, Education and Training (NCTVET). The programme, which began in May 2001, is conducted every three months. To date, the 4-H clubs have trained 60 successful candidates from this programme with 25 per cent of them placed in jobs.
The 4-H movement is also extending itself into other areas such as information technology through its Information Technology Empowerment Programme (ITEP), where it has two training centres at Rose Hall, St. Catherine, and Font Hill, St. Thomas. Clubbites are offered training in Microsoft 2000, Excel 2000 and Power Point programmes.
The movement is also engaged in environmental programmes such as its 'Greening of Jamaica - the 4-H Way Programme', which, aims to plant fruit and ornamental trees in over 300 communities across Jamaica. At present, most of these tree-planting exercises take place in schools at all levels.
The 4-H clubs in collaboration with the Jamaica Environment Trust also jointly operate 55 environment clubs as part of the Schools' Environmental programme. Other environmental programmes also include vermicomposting.
Another 4-H Club programme available is the Entrepreneurial Programme, which provides leadership skills training. This programme is run in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Development Options Limited.
This collaborative effort between the Jamaica 4-clubs and the IDB, which began in 1984, is a means of improving the standard of living of rural youth
The 4-H movement is also involved in home-making and the hospitality industry, where clubbites are exposed to training through its Home Economics Training Programme. This programme offers training in basic home economics skills, seafood preparation, health food preparation, and floral arrangements among others.
The programme is conducted at the Denbigh 4-H Training Centre over an eight-week period.
Turning to future plans for the clubs, Mr. Grant said the movement plans to develop a database of clubbites who have acquired various skills from the movement, so that interested employers could make contact with these persons.
"Within the next 12 months the 4-H clubs will be repositioning and repackaging itself as the institution where persons that operate in agriculture and need people to work on their farms can call and we can refer persons to them," he says.
Mr. Grant adds that the movement is working to increase its membership to 100,000 by 2005/6.
Interested young persons can join the 4-H clubs at their schools, churches and in their communities.
