Agricultural training takes root in Jamaica

400 rural Jamaican farmers are benefitting from an eight-week training programme sponsored by COL on how to treat farming as a business and to maximise their earning potential.

Using a combination of face-to-face and open and distance learning, the programme involves the use of mobile devices to train and mentor participants into higher levels of professionalism in agriculture.

Through exposure to topics such as effective marketing techniques, business proposal writing, record keeping and other business skills for future growth, these Jamaican farmers are now being taught the fundamentals of how to turn their underdeveloped farmland into a thriving agribusiness.

Current efforts are also being made by organisations like the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to create, support and provide opportunities to Jamaican youth with support from COL’s Gender initiative, and to encourage economic and social transformation on a community and countrywide basis.