Youth in Agribusiness Awarded by IICA

Three young agricultural entrepreneurs have been awarded by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for establishing outstanding enterprises and blazing a trail in the local agriculture sector.

Taking the top prize was 28-year-old Kacheif Brown, a goat and cattle farmer from Westmoreland, whose modern goathouse is equipped with special pens and guarded by canine security.

In second place was Manchester’s Ieasha Johnson, who cultivates a variety of crops, and has established a one-stop shop for agricultural produce, while the third-place award went to Junior Senior of Clarendon, who used his carpentry skills to construct a modern goathouse on high elevation with camera surveillance.

The awards were presented during the IICA’s Accountability Seminar held on Wednesday (December 6) at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, in his address at the function, lauded the IICA for celebrating young people who are “already involved… already doing the work” and for telling the success stories of youth in agriculture.

“It’s very easy in agriculture to speak about the rain, the drought, the hard times, but we don’t spend a lot of time speaking about the successes, speaking about the young lady who left her comfortable private-sector job because she recognised that she could make more money by setting up an agricultural enterprise in the hills of Manchester… . We don’t tell those stories,” the Minister said.

He noted that youth engagement in agriculture “is not just a priority; it is the cornerstone of building the new FACE of food”.

For her part, IICA Representative in Jamaica, Dr. Eizabeth Johnson, described the event as one of “experience capitalisation”.

“This is where we capture the essence of the success of our youth and how they actually overcame some of their struggles to inspire others who are going through the same process to know that it is possible – you will succeed; you can try and keep trying,” Dr. Johnson said.

First-place awardee, Kacheif Brown, beamed with pride as he expressed his delight at being selected for the top prize.

“I am honoured to be the winner, and I am very grateful for this opportunity to showcase what we small farmers can do and the changes we can make to the industry,” Mr. Brown said.

Ieasha Johnson was similarly delighted.

She told JIS News: “Gaining this award today, I feel very elated because I can definitely see where my hard work has been paying off. I am also glad for the exposure because it will let a lot of people know about young farmers and appreciate us in the Jamaican society.”

Junior Senior, who wants to get other youngsters involved in goat farming, said, “I feel very excited to know that I got this award today.”

Noting that his favourite part of goat farming is “kidding season”, the ambitious young man said: “I love to see the amazing kids being born and you hold them and say ‘Yes! This is my hard work’.”