GEF backs farm projects for youth employment

Farming projects now run by young people show they have a big role to play in the future of sustainable agriculture, their sponsors have said.

The National Coordinator of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme, implemented by United Nations Development Programme, Dr David Bynoe made the comment as he and a team toured the two GEF sites on Friday.

At Ashford St. John, where the Barbados Youth Action Programme (BYAP) is training 30 young people in climate-smart, sustainable and organic-based farming methods, Dr Bynoe said training young people in this field will also tackle high unemployment among the youth.

He said: “The BYAP are not only targeting the issues of food security, nutrition, and also health and wellness, but they are tackling the problems with youth. We have high unemployment within our region, and we have high unemployment in the context of Barbados. So they are engaging youth to get involved in sustainable activities as it relates to sustainable agriculture.

“They use renewable energy that fights climate change, but at the same time, they are creating value-added, agriculture products. That is important.

“This is the epiphany of what the Small Grants Programme seeks to do; empowering communities to take local actions, that cumulatively, have a global impact.”

Assistant project lead at the Ashford site, Andrina Welch, said that with more young people showing high interest not only in farming but in merging known farming techniques with modern technology, the case should be made in involving a large number of the youth within the growing sector. (SB)