Utilising its limited compound space for planting, Barrackpore ASJA Primary School, through the efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), received a hydroponics system to promote agriculture and farming participation for their students.
President of the National 4-H Council of Trinidad and Tobago, Natasha Lee, said her organisation, which is dedicated to youth advancement, was pleased to collaborate with the FAO to ensure young people reach their full potential through agricultural initiatives.
“This project had to do with developing technological systems in schools where we have limited land space or a lot of concrete or paved areas so that children would be able to see the feasibility, the affordability and the growth of agriculture where you have less soil, and they would use this now as a sense of food security. They would plant their own food crops, consume, and then go into some entrepreneurship where they would sell some of the produce to keep the project running.”
FAO Project Coordinator Suresh Sookbir believes that involving youth in agriculture from a young age is crucial for developing the future leaders of tomorrow in this field.
“At the heart of this project is the belief that young people like yourselves, when given the right opportunity and tools, can play a transformative role in shaping the future of agriculture and building resilient food systems.”
For the students, the benefits extend to developing entrepreneurship skills at a young age by selling their produce once harvested. The hydroponics system provides practical, hands-on experience, reinforcing what they learn in the classroom.
Student Samara Nezam Mohammed told TTT News: “I learnt how to plant the plants, when we have to water the plants, and what helps the plants to grow – sun, air, and water.”
And Principal of the Barrackpore ASJA Primary School, Fazila Cherie Ackbarali, said teachers are trained to guide students in planting using this system.
“This is, as they would have mentioned, technologically based so that the children are getting another option of reaping, growing, and sustaining themselves with food, and so for this experience for these children, it is just in line of the Ministry of Education of cultural transformation. It’s transforming the way that we understand agriculture and growing of food and sustaining ourselves in a new dimension.”
Introduced in 2024 through a partnership between FAO and 4-H, the Innovative Agricultural Technologies Project featuring hydroponics, vertical gardening, and shade houses and more, has been implemented in several schools across Trinidad and Tobago.