CLARENDON, Jamaica — Starting this year, the top boy and girl in agricultural science in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination in each parish will receive a full scholarship to pursue tertiary-level agricultural studies in Jamaica.

The scholarship programme was among youth initiatives announced by Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, while delivering the main address on day two of the 71st staging of the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in May Pen, Clarendon on Saturday.

Green said that the scholarships are aimed at encouraging the top-performing students to pursue studies in agriculture.

He informed that 26 scholarships will be on offer to qualifying students in an effort to “secure the future of agriculture.”

Kingston and St Andrew will be treated as one parish.

“What I find is that the young people in high school who do excellent in agricultural science end up in other areas. If you are the best and brightest at agriculture at the secondary level, we want you to stay in agriculture,” Green said.

The minister also announced scholarships for teachers.

“If you only have students and you don’t have teachers, you have a problem. So, we’re securing four scholarship spaces for those who specifically want to do agricultural education. We want to create the next generation of agricultural teachers,” the minister affirmed.

In addition, he said that the ministry will be collaborating with the HEART NSTA/Trust to ensure that students studying agriculture have access to applicable work experience.

“We’re working with the HEART Trust to start a graduate recruitment initiative. We want to place our young people coming out of the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE)…in a job. We will pay half [and] the private sector will pay half. Ultimately, they will get the experience that they need to transition into these agricultural jobs,” Green stated.

Highlighting other initiatives to get the youth into farming, he said that having recognised that they face barriers in accessing land in agro-parks, the ministry is reducing the requirements for young people to secure leases.

“Not only is it 25 per cent of land reserved, we’re saying to our young people, for your first two years, we’re going to cut your lease payments in half. We’re also saying to our young people, instead of proving to us that you have 70 per cent of the money to start, come with 30 per cent and we will give you your lease,” the minister outlined.

He noted that the ministry will also undertake land preparation free of cost for up to two acres and provide inputs for up to two acres of land for the first two years to young people who lease land in agro parks.

“I believe if we give our young people that start, they will be able to convert that into excellent agri-enterprises. So, we are serious about embarking on a new generation, a new era of resilience and transformation, and ultimately, a new face of food,” Green said.

— JIS