TRELAWNY, Jamaica — Western Jamaica is to benefit from a more than $20 million Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund-backed school-garden initiative aimed at cultivating an early interest in agriculture among children in communities battered by Hurricane Melissa.

Dubbed “Gardens of Excellence”, the pilot will be launched at infant schools in western Jamaica, using the gardens as living classrooms to expose children to farming, food production and environmental stewardship from an early age.

Colin Virgo, chairman of Jamaica 4-H Clubs and the Regional Youth in Agriculture Task Force, announced the initiative during a plenary at CWA 2026, themed “Dynamic and Inclusive Agriculture and Fisheries: Exchanging Experience for Growth, Productivity and Resilience”, at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel on Thursday.

Virgo said the initiative reflects an urgent need to reach children before they become vulnerable to negative influences.

“We have to get this appreciation and love and interest in agriculture in our young people from those tender ages,” he said.

The project is intended to demonstrate how agriculture can be integrated into early-childhood education while strengthening awareness of food production and environmental resilience.

It also forms part of a wider regional effort to engage young people in agriculture.