Jamaica 4-H Ramps-Up Efforts To Get More Youth Into Agriculture

The Jamaica 4-H Clubs is intensifying efforts this year to get more young Jamaicans to enter the agriculture sector and view the industry as a viable career option.

As part of the focus, the entity will be expanding the reach of the Rural Youth Economic Empowerment Programme (RYEEP), increasing the distribution of Government-owned lands to young farmers, providing agro-processing support, among other things.

Executive Director of the 4-H Clubs, Dr. Ronald Blake, says that under RYEEP, more persons will be targeted for assistance and training to start agricultural ventures.

Through the programme, youth participants will benefit from advanced training in business development and management, agriculture best practices for targeted production areas, and training in basic computing.

They will also receive start-up grants and up to six months of business coaching.

“What we do is we train you and give you the venture capital input to start your agricultural enterprise. What’s good about it is that after you receive the input, we don’t leave you; we provide you with three to six months of coaching to ensure the survival of your business. So RYEEP is going to be a big programme,” Dr. Blake says.

He tells JIS News that focus will also be placed on assisting more women under the programme.

“There is a tremendous need to provide more support for rural young women with an interest in agriculture. That, again, is going to be a big programme for the 4-H Clubs,” he says.

The Executive Director says that youth entrepreneurs will also benefit from additional services at the recently launched agro-processing centre in Denbigh, Clarendon.

“This facility provides multiple agro-processing services, whether you want to do purees, packaging, or oil extraction. And so, for 2022, we are really going to hit the road and we want youngsters to make use of the agro-processing facility,” he says.

Meanwhile, Dr. Blake tells JIS News that more young farmers will receive agricultural lands this year.

“When we did our last assessment of our youth farmer population, one of the things we recognised was the need for persons to have access to arable land,” he says.

“I’m happy to say that we have built out the framework for youth to benefit from 20 per cent of all Government-owned agricultural land. The first 10 participants were selected late last year. This year, out of the 230 applicants, we expect to provide 150 of them with land. That is going to be another big project for us in 2022,” he shares.

The 4-H Clubs is also working with the Agro-Investment Corporation (AIC) and similar entities to ensure youth farmers get access to land.

The Government’s push to provide farmland to young Jamaicans is part of a strategy to put more unused lands into food production in order to grow the agriculture sector, thereby ensuring food security for the nation.

In addition to the 20 per cent of government-owned land for youth farmers, the Ministry has also reserved 20 per cent of overall agricultural benefits for young people.

The 4-H movement is considered to be the leading youth organisation in the island, with more than 100,000 members.

It is mandated to provide skills training for young people aged five to 25 in the areas of agriculture, home economics, social skills, entrepreneurship, environmental awareness and healthy lifestyle. The movement also seeks to provide a cadre of trained young leaders, capable of contributing to national development.

For more information on the offerings of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs, persons can visit www.jamaica4Hclubs.com or call 876-927-4050-2.