Minister Green Pledges Revamp of Agricultural Education

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, has pledged to revamp the agricultural education system.

He notes that a modern, transformative and innovative agricultural sector must begin with agricultural education.

Speaking recently during Founders’ Day at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) in Portland, Minister Green said that the education system must facilitate the monetisation, transformation and growth of agriculture.

“That’s why for 2026, I’m going to be spending a lot of time, energy and resources from the Ministry to revamp some of our agricultural educational systems. We have to ensure that at our primary level, secondary level and, in fact, from our basic school level… that people are taking agriculture seriously,” he stated.

Some of the planned initiatives include doubling the budget for the school gardening programme.

This is aimed at ensuring that agricultural programmes, especially in secondary schools, are not just theoretical.

“They must be practical. People must go out and engage with the farm; and the farm must be cutting edge… it must be modern. It mustn’t just look like what we’ve seen five decades ago,” Mr. Green said.

He added that Vertical Hydroponic Towers were also recently presented to Manchester High School and Holmwood Technical High.

“This will allow the schools to teach students how to use the towers so they can set up their own enterprises,” the Minister explained.

He said that another aim is to ensure that in every area, there is a secondary school designated as a centre of excellence for agriculture. These institutions would feature farms showcasing all forms of agriculture.

Mr. Green also recently announced a scholarship programme to award the top boy and girl in agricultural science in each parish with a scholarship to CASE.

“We keep losing some of our best and brightest agricultural students. You meet somebody doing extremely well in another field and they tell you – ‘In high school, I loved agriculture… I was a top student’….but they don’t continue that journey,” he said.

“We want them to continue, and we want the best and the brightest. You can’t be the best in the Caribbean and end up in something else. You should end up right here at CASE,” Minister Green added.