Participants who took part in IICA’s 2016 Youth Farm Programme, during their graduation ceremony.
Henderson Eastmond, Executive Director of the TVET Council Barbados.
A number of young people graduating from the Youth Farm Programme hosted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Barbados, have been encouraged to use the programme as a stepping stone, to further their careers in the agricultural sector.
The advice came from Henderson Eastmond, Executive Director of the TVET Council, as he delivered remarks during the graduation ceremony held recently for local and regional participants who took part in IICA’s 2016 Youth Farm Programme. The graduation ceremony was held at Building #2, Harbour Industrial Estate, St. Michael.
“I urge you soon to be new graduates of the Youth Farm Programme, to take the skills and knowledge gained from this programme and apply them in your future careers and jobs. Use it as a stepping stone for your future development. Continue to take every advantage of education and training opportunities and seek to always improve yourself and enhance your skills,” he told the youths.
In giving some background information on the training initiative, he noted that the intensive summer Youth Farm Programme was first initiated in 2012, by the IICA office in Barbados, in collaboration with the TVET Council, which falls under the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture.
“It seeks, among other things, to develop knowledge in sustainable farming methods and to demonstrate the income potential of agriculture” he said. He also noted that to date, the TVET Council, through the Employment Training Fund, has disbursed a total of Bds$ 211 958 to finance the cost of training and assessment for the Youth Farm Programme.
Prior to the recently held graduation ceremony, Eastmond revealed that 106 students successfully completed the programme, attaining the National/Caribbean Vocational Qualification (NVQ/CVQ) Level 1 certification in Amenity Horticulture.
However, the executive director indicated that as a result of the significant expansion in the 2015 programme, which resulted in an intake of 36 candidates in the Amenity Horticulture Programme, IICA took steps to better manage the large number of candidates, due to limited resources. As such, the 2016 Youth Farm Programme saw the number of candidates enrolled reduced to 25 and also a switch in the qualification, from Amenity Horticulture to Crop Production Level 1 and Livestock Rearing Level 1. Fifteen students took part in the Crop Production Level 1 course, whereas ten students completed the Livestock Rearing Level 1. Noting that these two qualifications are bigger than Amenity Horticulture, Eastmond stressed that the reduced candidate numbers helped to facilitate better implementation and learning.