Minister of Agriculture Dr Shantal Munro-Knight has announced plans to provide qualifying Hope Agricultural Training Institute graduates with one to two acres of farmland free of charge, as part of efforts to encourage more young people to enter farming.
As the institute opened its doors to the first cohort of students on Monday, Munro-Knight said: “We are designing a programme within the ministry that will allow us to be able to give those graduates of HATI that are interested in actually becoming farmers.
“We will give you between one acre and two acres free once you graduate from HATI with your diploma and your certificate. That was something that was deliberate and intentional.”
Munro-Knight also announced that a new tissue culture laboratory is expected to open in October, describing the facility as a major investment in the future of agriculture.
“I say that without apology, agriculture is resurging. We will take up space,” she declared.
“In October, we will open our world-class tissue culture lab. It will be one of the biggest tissue culture labs, not one of, I think the biggest one in the region, allowing us to have planting material, clean planting material, to enhance the quality of our agricultural produce.”
She said the ministry would also be reframing its Farmers’ Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) programme to ensure it is “fit for purpose”, while rolling out initiatives focused on agro-processing.
In November, the ministry would issue a challenge to Barbadians to help develop solutions to five challenges facing agriculture, Munro-Knight added.
“Agriculture people, we are resurging, but we must do it together,” she said.
The minister told students that the government’s increased focus on agriculture was deliberate, stressing that it must move beyond being viewed merely as having potential.
“Agriculture is perhaps one of the most underlooked elements in this society.
“When we think about economic growth and when we think about the future of this country, agriculture is one of the things that we speak of softly, that we speak of only as having potential, but never as a thing that will take up space and become a major driver.”
HATI was helping to demonstrate that intention, Munro-Knight said, while urging students to embrace their role in shaping the future of agriculture.
“The students that are here today, you are that energy that we need. It is a big mantle that we place on your shoulders, but it is a fundamental and a necessary one.”
She also rejected the notion that young Barbadians are uninterested in agriculture: “The fact that you have placed that commitment and passion in agriculture demonstrates to all of us, in fact, it repudiates that myth, that young people are not interested in agriculture.”
(SB)
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