These students from St. George Secondary came first in the three major categories in the secondary school division.
The participants from Roland Edwards Primary School took home the first place award in the ‘Cultivation Under Protected Structures Category’ of the competition.
Students from Westbury Primary School, posing with their teachers after receiving second place in the ‘Salads’ category.
St. George Secondary School copped first place for the three major categories in the secondary school division of the “Grow Well, Eat Well” School Gardening and Recipe Competition.
The male competitors collected their first place prizes in the “Open Field” category, “Cultivation Under Protected Structures” and “Container Gardening” category at the Competition Awards Ceremony that was held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, in the Primary School Division, All Saints Primary School received first prize in the Container Gardening Category, as well as the Salads and Snacks categories. Roland Edwards Primary School received first place in the Cultivation Under Protected Structures and St. Jude’s Primary School received first place in the Open Field Category and “Beverages” Category. All Saints Primary and Boscobel Primary both received an award for “Most Creative Gardening” and Hillaby Turner Hall Primary school received an award for “Most Creative Dish”.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, Andrew Gittens, noted that the objective behind the competition was to introduce young people to various ways in which they could participate in agriculture. Additionally, he said that they also intended to shine a light on ways for them to engage in healthier eating habits through creating dishes from crops that they produced.
“The Ministry is heartened that the teachers were able to use the competition as a teaching exercise. This is clearly a critical step in the effort to garner a renewed interest in the local agriculture sector,” he said. In this regard, Gittens revealed that the Ministry would be attempting to expand the initiative; particularly to those schools which did not have an agriculture programme.
The Permanent Secretary also assured that the Ministry will also be a source of technical support in establishing the schools’ agriculture programmes and added that they plan to equip teachers and parents with the necessary skills to ensure that the programme is sustainable in order to attract more people to the sector.