Five scholarships granted under soil project

A Barbadian is among five candidates from across the region who have recently been granted full scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in soil sciences, at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad.

The recipient from Barbados is Senior Agricultural Assistant with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security, Michelle Wilson-Howard. The others are from Guyana, Belize, Haiti, and Saint Lucia.

The scholarship opportunities were launched under the aegis of The Caribbean Small Island Developing States Multi-country Soil Management Initiative, for Integrated Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Food Systems (CSIDS SOILCARE) – Phase I Project. The regional project is aimed at strengthening soil management in CSIDS. 

Twenty applicants, from among the eight nations involved in Phase One of the project – Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia – vied for the scholarships, disclosed Regional Land Expert from the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management, Dr Ronen Francis.

“The five grantees . . . will start at the MPhil level, for those who don’t already have a Masters; for those who do, they will probably just do the prerequisites and go straight into PhD research,” said Dr Francis.

“Some of the scholarship winners will be studying composting and others will be doing soil physics, chemistry, soil fertility and watershed management, but all within the Faculty of Food and Agriculture. This is a great opportunity for five lucky candidates.”

(BGIS/BT)