By Nancy Baker | Communications Director
Since our last report, our team at INMED Caribbean has been building and strengthening program capacity. Our second group of agri-entrepreneurs and farmers began the online and hands-on trainning, while our first group of farmers have begun their coaching sessions with our agri-business consultants to polish their businesss plans.
In October, INMED Caribbean launched a strategic partnership with College of Agrirculture, Science and Education (CASE) to expand capacity of our Increasing Access to Climate-Smart Agriculture program in Jamaica. The partnership involves the construction of a large commercial-scale aquaponics system on its campus in Port Antonio, Portland, to serve as a teaching tool for students studying adaptive agriculture, a resource for research and development, and a source of fresh produce and fish for the college’s meals program. The system also will be used as a demonstration and training tool for INMED’s IACA program, which provides training and technical assistance in aquaponics farming, as well as links to financing and markets, to help small-scale farmers, women and youth start aquaponics enterprises in Jamaica. IACA program partners include the Inter-American Development Bank/Multilateral Investment Fund, Caribbean Development Bank, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC).
As part of the demonstration system, aquaponics experts from INMED Caribbean will train CASE instructors in all aspects of aquaponics farming and will help develop course curricula specifically for CASE students. “While we’re focusing on developing current aquaponics farmers and entrepreneurs through our IACA program, this wonderful strategic partnership with CASE will allow us to expand our reach to future farmers and entrepreneurs among their students,” says Dr. Linda Pfeiffer, CEO of INMED Partnerships for Children, which pioneered the IACA concept.
“We appreciate the partnership between CASE and INMED to add aquaponics as a viable, climate-smart agriculture alternative to address food security and provide economic opportunities to the new generation of farmers in Jamaica,” says Dr. Derrick Deslandes, President of CASE.
The aquaponics system is currently under construction at CASE and is expected to be operational by year-end. INMED Caribbean and CASE recently held a launch event, which included representatives of the Caribbean Development Bank, the Planning Institute of Jamaica and RADA Portland Parish and several farmers participating in INMED’s IACA program.
“The launch of this aquaponics project is an exciting step for agriculture in Jamaica,” says Darran Newman, Division Chief (Ag.), Technical Cooperation Division of the Caribbean Development Bank. “It has the potential to transform the industry for the better and to help lift many citizens out of poverty. The Caribbean Development Bank is pleased to help bring such innovation to the agricultural sector through our support of this partnership between CASE and INMED.”
A big THANK YOU to all our donors supporting this project. You are changing lives (read our latest Follow a Farmer entries). Stay up to date by visiting https://inmedcaribbean.org.
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