Teenage Farmer Says Jamaica Can Achieve Food Sufficiency

Nineteen-year- old Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) Junior Champion Farmer 2009, Rahim Baccas, believes that, with some more effort and dedication, Jamaica can achieve food sufficiency and wealth creation in agriculture.
The teenage farmer, who was crowned at last week-end’s annual Denbigh Agricultural Show in Clarendon, told JIS News that he plans to study agriculture at the tertiary level.
“(And) it doesn’t stop here; there will always be another level to go,” he said, after receiving the JAS trophy.
Speaking of his involvement in livestock farming and growing ground provisions, Mr. Baccas encouraged his peers to “take a step up and look what farming is all about.”
“It is not hard, and once you put your mind to it, through hard work comes success,” he assured.
Newly elected President of the JAS, Glendon Harris, said that the junior farmer award was introduced to encourage and motivate young people to enter the agricultural sector.
“We have seen some progress and, even at our annual general meeting, you could see a fall in the average age of persons at the meetings. And, if you go into a lot of the rural farming communities, you will see people in agriculture that are quite young,” Mr. Harris confirmed.
He said that, in the short term, the JAS will stage a young farmer’s conference at Denbigh, where young people will be exposed to motivational speeches, the technical ways of farming, as well as the business and practical sides of the sector.