St. Deny’s/Tapakuma youth participating in shade house cultivation

-following BIT training

Six young women of Region Two are currently participating in a five-month Shade House Cultivation programme in St. Deny’s/Tapakuma village, facilitated by the Ministry of Labour’s Board of Industrial Training (BIT).

The trainees have already constructed a shade house with guidance from the trainer, Mr. Devin Mohan, who hails from the Amerindian village.

Minister, Hon. Joseph Hamilton recently conducted an outreach in the region.

The Minister said the residents had requested the shade house project and training programme because of the challenges they face with flooding. He was accompanied by BIT’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Richard Maughn, and BIT’s Region Two, Technical Officer, Mr. Mohammed Shaheed.

Some of the beneficiaries of the shade house programme

“I think that is a useful programme and what I have said to the Toshao is that these young ladies here, the training doesn’t end at training after the graduation.

Unless we empower them whereby, they can feed themselves and their families, we are wasting time and therefore, that is the important thing, how you utilise the skill,” the Minister said.

Following a tour of the shade house, one of the trainees reported that seedlings were planted about a week ago, and to date, they have recorded 100 per cent growth rate of crops such as celery, pak choi, tomato, lettuce, pepper and shallot on natural, organic soil.

The shade house built by the beneficiaries of the training.

Minister Hamilton encouraged the residents to make full use of the training opportunities offered by BIT. The BIT currently offers over 80 training programmes to communities countrywide.

He said the training would be more inclusive to ensure far-flung Amerindian communities are benefiting. More programmes would be added based on the needs of the labour market.

Meanwhile, Toshao Aubrey Frederick said the programme is a significant achievement for the tourism community, since it had long expressed an interest in training for agriculture production.

Crops cultivated in the shade house

“This is the first time such a training programme has come to our village and our trainees are the prime beneficiaries.  We hope that those who are trained will pass on the knowledge to other residents in our village. We hope to get many more of those training programme in our village,” he said.

Last year, the BIT provided technical and vocational training to some 2,000 people. this year, the number will increase to over 3,500. The Ministry has already appointed BIT officers to every region, who would be working with residents to craft training programmes based on the needs of their respective communities.