New Agri Programme For Women And Youth

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will be partnering with the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) to increase female participation in the livestock industry.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., said this will take place under the WUSC’s Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean (SAC) Project.

The project aims to promote climate-resilient agriculture for equitable economic growth and increased economic prosperity of its target group, women and youth (both female and male).

“That project will help us to improve the involvement and growth of our women in the small ruminant industry, specifically targeting goat meat and dairy production,” he explained.

The Minister was addressing the recent Agriculturalist’s Distinguished Women in Agriculture Awards Ceremony held at the Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston.

This, he said, is another area in which the Government is driving its support for women in farming.

“It is important for us as a government to be strategic in ensuring that our approach recognises the historical barriers. The inevitable and unfortunate inequities that have become the norm, which we now have an opportunity to extract and to remove,” he said.

Launched October 28, 2021, SAC is a multi-country economic growth initiative funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and is being implemented in Jamaica, Guyana, Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Suriname.