Over 200 Barbadians are set to begin training this week when the second round of training under the Farmers’ Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) programme gets under way.
An initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), the FEED programme and related training are being executed by the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) from Thursday, September 10.
It will primarily be conducted online via Google classroom, but in some cases there will be limited face-to-face sessions.
The event will officially open tomorrow, Tuesday, September 8, with a ceremony at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael, from 10:00 a.m. to noon.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Indar Weir, and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Phillips, will deliver remarks. Chief Executive Officer of the BADMC, Dr. Brian Francis, and FEED Manager at the BADMC, Osmond Harewood, will also address participants.
In addition to providing an opportunity for participants to meet with representatives from the Ministry and the BADMC, the ceremony will also allow them to gain insights into the online programme.
This Second Cohort Training follows last year’s, which saw 96 persons completing training under the FEED programme.
Established in April 2019, the FEED initiative is being executed over a three-year period and will accommodate persons with a desire to establish agricultural enterprises in a variety of farming systems.
The BADMC is responsible for the planning, implementation, and management of the programme, aimed at reducing agricultural imports into the island, and by extension, ensuring national food and nutrition security.