Thompson Town , Clarendon — The Thompson Town High School in North Western Clarendon recently received farm equipment and supplies worth $US$25,000 for its agricultural programme.

The gifts, which included a shade house for protected farming, was made available through the Ja REEACH (Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems Adapting to Climate Change) Project.

The Project is being executed with the expertise of private, international development nonprofit organization ACDI/VOCA (Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance), based in Washington, DC .

It is being funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Shade house aside, equipment and supplies included ten 1000-gallon water tanks, harvesting crates, a hanging scale, wheelbarrow, water boots, overalls, gloves, hand spades, hand forks, knapsack sprayer, respirators, mist blower, fertilizer and other agro-chemicals.

The Ja REEACH project started in Jamaica in 2010 to empower farmers and community members with information and technologies to address constraints to their economic activities and lives due to climate variability, organisers say.

The work with Thompson Town High School ‘s agriculture programme — for which dialogue started in late 2013 — is being done under a youth enrichment initiative.

Agricultural programmes at Garvey Maceo High in Clarendon and Munro College in St Elizabeth are also being enhanced.

“The aim is to work with schools that have strong agricultural focused programmes,” said Dianne Dormer, director of technical assistance at Ja REEACH.

Principal Richard Morgan said that as a rural school Thompson Town High has always been involved in agriculture but water shortage was a major challenge.

“A significant portion of the year we do not have piped water so we have had to purchase water to keep the school operations going. A part of this project is to harvest rain water so we make certain that we have a decent enough supply of water to keep the school,” he said.

Morgan told Observer Central that the school has over the years produced crops such as vegetables, yams and bananas. In recent times poultry and rabbits have also joined the production line, he said.

He said layer chickens will soon be in place to provide eggs for the breakfast programme at the school.

Morgan told the handover ceremony that in time, he sees the agriculture programme also contributing to the “coffers” of the school.

The Thompson Town High principal who is training to be certified through the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL) believes that study course which was introduced under the education transformation programme, is a “value-added” as he and his team work on improving the school.

In addition to the growth in agriculture, other proud achievements for Thompson Town High include a sixty-seven per cent pass rate in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) in the first year of the sixth form programme last year, a growing Tae Kwon Do Club that had one student returning from a Caribbean Championship with a gold medal in March, and improved library and technology access.

North Western Clarendon member of parliament, Richard Azan, expressed gratitude for the support from the Ja REEACH project. The Thompson Town Farmers’ Group is also set to benefit particularly from specialized training, Ja REEACH spokespersons said.