“To lift yourself up, lift up someone else!"
- Booker T. Washington
Greenhouse Farming Projects
Agriculture has always been central to the Jamaican economy. Originally, Jamaican agriculture was based on crops (sugarcane, banana and coffee) produced on plantations for export. Today, Jamaica has a dual agricultural economy. While there is a large sector still producing sugarcane and coffee for the export market, a smaller sector (that accounts for the greater proportion of farm labor) produces a wide range of crops, mainly for the domestic market. Unlike more developed economies, the major role of Jamaican agriculture is not to provide food for its local population but for export. The economy in turn relies on foreign exchange earned from the export of crops to import the bulk of staple foods for local consumption. This “monocropping” of export crops has generated a vulnerable, open economy, dependent on food imports that deters the development of small-farm food production.
Even though agriculture and related activities dominate most of the rural parishes in Jamaica, school curricula are designed in such a way that they produce and reproduce labor for the industrial/commercial/trading types of occupations that exist mainly in metropolitan and urban areas. Agriculture is not considered at best as a viable and valid choice in school. The educational system does not provide the environment whereby farming is seen as a business in which skills in credit use, improved farm technology, farmer organization and agro-processing can lead to the achievement of a comfortable lifestyle from agriculture.
Our Goal is to improve the education of targeted Jamaican youth in agriculture using Hoop House technology. Hoop Houses are controlled environment production units that are low cost, easy to set up and easy to maintain. The Stone Foundation's Hoop House Farming Project provides education in Hoop House and irrigation appropriate technology that incorporates the best production methods in scalable structures. Production methods will include prevention of soil erosion, environmental degradation, resource depletion and reduced pesticide use, as well as plant diseases and pest problems.
Sustainability Education
Education is needed to break the cycle of poverty that pervades small farming communities and to facilitate efforts at sustainable agriculture. The educational status of small farmers in Jamaica, as low levels of education among small farmers will affect the dissemination of improved agricultural technologies and other agricultural support services by planners.
In our plan, educational institutions will provide agricultural staff members to co-teach, plan and manage the project, land space, security, irrigation and supervision of students. Schools will assist in the selection of students and insuring that the curriculum is in accordance with the Ministry of Education. MGM’s will provide a contract with the school to purchase produce from the hoop tunnel houses and sign an MOU to potentially work with school leavers based on their performance and ability to produce after completion of the project. Schools will simultaneously teach the course while having students produce in the hoop tunnel houses. The contractual agreement will serve as income mechanism for the school. Profits will be utilized to establish a fund that serves as a loan guarantee mechanism for school leavers to start their own agri-business. The model empowers youth to work in the agricultural sector as well as provide an income with an on-the-job training curriculum. The concept allows for Rapid Start-Up and immediate impact in year one. The Stone Foundation will provide grants to establish hoop tunnel houses, each on 1/2 acre. TSF will also provide MBAEC staff members with a laptop, PDA and cell phone, project planning and management, and supervision.
The Green Generation Project
Coming to terms with these environmental issues is now an essential part of human life. It is a lifelong process and a lifestyle, without option. And when does this process begin? It should begin in the earliest years of life, during the most significant period of human development. On this account, it is imperative that early childhood education provide exposure to an environmental curriculum that is hands on and incorporates relevance to the reality of environmental issues and the choices for future sustainability.
The Stone Foundation (TFS) seeks to fill the gap in Green early childhood education with the implementation of the Green Generation project. TFS is seeking a to expand our Green Generation program by: 1) constructing hoop house gardens at elementary schools and pre-schools, 2) providing tools and equipment to help students maintain the gardens, 3) providing educational materials to incorporate a Green curriculum in the schools, 4) providing Green curriculum training for teachers and 5) presenting local farmers and environmentalists as lecturers. The goal of the Green Generation program is to educate youth through classroom instruction, collaboration and hands-on experience in horticulture, environmental sciences, conservation, nutrition, recycling, alternative energy and problem-solving.
Cornwall Agro Enterprises
"A digital agricultural network promoting technology, research and communications"
This project will develop a new type of regional agricultural research and development network based on market development and value-added products. Entitled “Cornwall Agro Enterprises”, this new network aims to work in close collaboration with public and private sector partners to identify market opportunities and then develop and deploy innovative post-production marketing strategies, technologies and products that will catalyze new markets for local crops and expand existing markets. The network will provide two key roles, (1) develop specific income generating agro-enterprise projects and (2i) provide a crosscutting, post-harvest, capacity building role across the existing commodity networks. Cornwall Agro Enterprises will initially focus on developing value added, processed products, from perishable crops. As experience develops within the enterprise schemes, the Cornwall Agro Enterprises team will progress to other commodities and products using their acquired agro-business skills to assist other networks and private sector partners. To support the development of enterprise projects within the commodity networks, Cornwall Agro Enterprises will also undertake specific types of market oriented training, including market analysis, agro-business skills development and training in adaptive research methods to facilitate the shift towards market driven research.
The budget request for US$ 343,362 over a two year period will support a regionally facilitated portfolio of research and enterprise projects based on competitive grants, regional and in-country training, regional planning meetings, publications of research findings, study tours and a post-harvest information system. Once established, Cornwall Agro Enterprises will also provide a vital forum to lobby for additional co-sponsor donor funding, and to provide a strong linkage point between research and private sector agro-business development.
The need for this type of project is particularly acute in western and southern Jamaica, as new research and development approaches are required to overcome the most basic constraints to the farming and social systems in this region, i.e. lack of demand for agricultural produce and poverty. To address these issues, the Cornwall Agro Enterprises strategy, will use a combination of market analysis and innovative technologies, working towards a sustainable system for increased food production, based on demand driven market opportunities and address poverty alleviation through increased income and job creation. The primary beneficiaries of this project will be small-medium scale farmers, farmer associations and processors. Particular emphasis will be placed on meeting the needs of women within the target groups and analyzing the changing roles of women and children as influenced by technology transfer.
