Hope for agriculture

An agricultural school in the north of the island will soon be a reality.

Through the assistance of the Government of China, establishment of the HOPE Agriculture Training Institute will get under way at Hope Plantation, St Lucy.

“It is not a dream anymore, it is on the verge of [becoming] a reality,” Senator Harcourt Husbands, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, disclosed while delivering the Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture Series on Friday at the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Headquarters.

“We now have the money and we are in the process of carrying out the tenders for the construction of the Institute,” he said.

Government has approved 45 acres at the HOPE and it is expected that institutions will share the facility for the execution of their associate degree, diploma and certificate agriculture programmes.

The establishment of the HOPE Agricultural Training Institute is to facilitate training that is going on at the Barbados Community College (BCC), Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP), Barbados Vocational Training Board and especially secondary schools in the north of the island.

“So, when we talk about the connections in the economy and how important agriculture is and we need to rebuild agriculture, one of the things we are doing in education – our contribution, is the development at HOPE in St Lucy of a specialised agricultural training institution.”

The Institute will train students in crop production, animal husbandry and farm management.
(TL)