How Fersan's School Gardens prepares Jamaican Children for Modern Agricultural Towers and Robots

“This is a project that we welcome, because we are starting with our children who will become the men and women of our society”

Newport Fersan Managing Director Dennis Valdez commenting on the joint project with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to establish 186 School Gardens

The agricultural program at several High Schools across Jamaica has finally gotten a boost.

This as Newport Fersan Jamaica Limited plans to establish 186 gardens in public schools in Jamaica as reported in “Boost for agri education”, published Saturday”, June 18, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

The good news came on Tuesday June 14^th 2016 while the Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries JC Hutchinson was touring Newport Fersan Jamaica Limited Wherry Wharf complex at Newport East.

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) is to undertake the initiative. The idea is that Schools will be able to grow most of the food they need with the help of student, instead of having to purchase food, making the schools self-sufficient.

Best of all, it'll help to wean teenager off eating Fast food and Bag juice as pointed out in my blog article entitled “Why Ministry of Education must support School Gardens as Sugar in Bag Juice linked to Lifestyle Diseases”.

Once they get to realize the fact that they can grow their own food, this encourage them to have a much brighter outlook on their future as Agriculture can be a  path to financially independent in the future.

Getting Jamaican Children interested in Agriculture - Modern Agriculture will involve Agricultural Towers and Robots

A part of the Government’s National School Garden Programme, the aim is to really get more children in both the rural and urban schools involved in Agriculture.

This is by letting them be responsible for the production food that their school consumes. After all, nothing beats boasting to your friend at lunch time that the pumpkin, cabbage and Rabbit stew they're enjoying was grown by your hand.

It will also help to attract more urban students to enter Agricultural Sciences as there is a need for more farmers and Agricultural Scientists. By demonstrating that they can feed their school, it will hopefully spark the interest or these urban area students to see Agriculture as a viable career option that’s just as profitable as being a lawyer or doctor.

It's also hoped that the School gardens will help children develope a sense of reasonability as well as sharpen their teamwork skills as pointed out by the State Minister in Agriculture, JC Hutchinson, quote: “We want to teach the students the best practices in agriculture, and also allow extension officers to use the gardens as demonstration plots”.

Jamaican School Gardens - Preparing Students for Automated Agricultural Towers in the Future

School Gardens already exist in many rural schools.

One such is Marcus Garvey Technical High School in St. Ann where they already have an advanced Rabbit rearing program as described in my blog article entitled “Marcus Garvey Technical High School Rabbit Rearing Program teaching Teenagers about Modern Farming Techniques”.

Agriculture will most likely appeal mostly to the kinesthetic learners, both in rural and urban school, who will definitely gravitate towards this concept of school gardens. Especially when combined with Tablets as explained in my blog article entitled “Why Tablet in School Rollout in September 2016 means Contractors and Kinesthetic Content coming”.

This as the students can use their tablets to connect with remote sensing technology to not only monitor their crops but also the weather.

An example is Ja REEACH II (Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems Adapting to Climate Change) network of portable Weather stations as explained in my blog article entitled “How Ja REEACH 36 Portable Weather Stations helps MSJ, RADA and NIC prevent Drought by 2020” allowing them to know when it’ll rain or when they need to store water for irrigation.

Remote Sensing will make Agriculture appeal to the tech-centric students and potential Agricultural Scientists, as most likely Robotics and Agricultural Towers will become a feature of Farming in the future as predicted in my blog article entitled “How Australia's University of Sydney Livestock Farmbot heralds Efficient Agricultural Towers”. 

So our children need to be prepared for a Future where farming will be automated!