The February mid-term break on the national school calendar has been having an impact on the number of students attending Agrofest over the past several years, says Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul.
On Tuesday, during a site visit for the exhibit sponsors at Queen’s Park, he said that the first day of the three-day agriculture exhibit is designated for schoolchildren but the number of students attending the event on that day is significantly declining.
However, stressing that the agriculture sector plays a significant role in the Barbadian economy and children should know how important it is and where their food comes from, Paul said the BAS has implemented a campaign to attract school children to the show.
“We have not allowed that to deter us from trying to get children coming. We have been going to the schools and encouraging teachers, sensitising the children about the importance of Agrofest and why they need to come – despite the fact that there is a mid-term break, think about the social responsibility and the fact that the youngsters need to know something about agriculture,” he contended.
The BAS head said the organisation was also targeting school children on social media with interesting age-appropriate content.
He said community leaders and heads of youth groups at churches were also welcome to bring a contingent of children to the event on Friday.
This year, 250 exhibitions will be on display and it is expected that more than 60 000 attendees will patronise Agrofest.
Paul added that while there were some complaints about the exhibition outgrowing the venue, there were no plans to move the annual event to another location.
He said the park was central and had historic value, and a relocation could lead to the exhibition’s demise.
Agrofest will be held the weekend of Friday, February 23 to Sunday, February 25. There will be exhibitions from Brazil, Suriname Guayana and Cuba.
(SZB)
