Green launches second backyard gardening campaign

Some 3,000 kits are slated for distribution through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) following Wednesday’s launch by The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining of what it has described as a “new backyard gardening campaign”. This is the second such initiative and is slated to coincide with the Eat Jamaican campaign and designed to boost food security, while encouraging sustainable farming practices.

The kits will be distributing on a first-come-first-serve basis, with quotas allocated for each parish, Minister Floyd Green announced during a press conference at the Banquet Hall, Jamaica House. Applications should be made online to rada.gov.jm\backyardgardeningkit.

This follows the launch of a similar initiative, also by Green in March 2021, to which there was a reported overwhelming response but he did not offer an update on the ourcome of that initiative. Data provided by the ministry then showed that 7,053 people applied for the 2,500 backyard garden kits with the number of women applicants – 4,725, far outnumbering the men at 2,328. Beneficiaries received a garden fork and shovel, assorted seeds, seedling tray, and potting mix and fertiliser and were encouraged to produce two to four crops per year, including vegetables such as pepper, cabbage, tomato, callaloo, pak choi and herbs.

“What is critical in this programme is that RADA will also be providing essential guidance. We will be focusing on our vegetable lines (and) we do have some online training support for you. We are looking to create the next generation of backyard gardeners,” Green told the press conference.