NEWLY-APPOINTED STATE Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Victor Cummings is suggesting that agriculture be included in the National Youth Service programme as part of the new thrust to encourage more young people in the sector.
"My personal view is that if we could get mandatory youth service, all young people should be given an opportunity to work on the farm for a year, if not more," Mr. Cummings said while addressing a presentation ceremony hosted by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority's (RADA) Youth in Agriculture programme at the Ministry of Agriculture, Hope Gardens, St. Andrew last Friday.
In citing his own experience working on a farm while engaged in the youth service programme, Mr. Cummings said, "It has made a difference for me and so if we could get a lot of our young people in the inner city to go out and work on the farms or even in the inner-city areas where we could have backyard gardens and farming on some of those open lots that are sitting there idle, we would be able to feed ourselves and provide food for all those hotels importing foods."
GETTING THE YOUTHS INVOLVED
Mr. Cummings emphasised that Jamaica was an agrarian society and more effort was needed to put more lands into production. He said getting the youths involved would be one of the ways in which to get more lands into production.
Last Friday RADA received $180,000 in sponsorship from 10 companies for the annual Youth in Agriculture competition which culminates at the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show scheduled for August 5-7. Among the sponsors are:
The Bank of Nova Scotia, Development Bank of Jamaica, National Housing Trust, RBTT Jamaica, Capital and Credit Merchant Bank, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Newport Fersan Jamaica and the National Commercial Bank.
AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS
In keeping with the objective of engaging more youths in agriculture, Albert Shand, executive director of RADA, explained that the Youth in Agriculture programme was introduced in the schools. "It is incumbent on RADA that proper agricultural pursuits are realised," he said.
The programme was merged with RADA's School's Agricultural Programme in 1998 and engages students through educational programmes, competitive events and a revolving loan project which assists schools in establishing their own gardens.
Bridgette Williams, coordinator of the Youth in Agriculture
programme, expressed satisfaction with the support of the private
sector, pointing out that the number of companies sponsoring the competition has increased from six in previous years to 10 this year.
