National school gardens initiative gains ground 

The Ministry of Education’s National School Gardens Project grand exhibition and awards ceremony has been hailed as an overwhelming success by organisers, following a significant increase in participation at its second staging.

The event, launched in 2024 with 23 schools, was held on Thursday at the José Martí Technical High School in St Catherine, attracting 56 schools from across the island.

Okemo Duckie, senior education officer for agriculture in the Ministry of Education, highlighted the initiative’s achievements, noting that it aims to strengthen food security and improve student nutrition through school-based agriculture.

“The objective of this initiative is to develop school gardens and use them to provide fresh produce for the school feeding programme.”

Duckie explained that the project seeks to improve students’ eating habits while supporting school feeding programmes.

“We want our students to eat healthier and provide these produce for the school canteen so that students can have nutritious meals,” he continued, speaking to The Gleaner at the end of the event.

According to Duckie, the programme has already delivered tangible benefits for participating institutions.

“We have seen the schools using the produce from their school gardens in their canteen, we have seen where some schools use it as a business,” Duckie revealed.

Those successes were evident throughout the exhibition, where schools from the seven educational regions showcased agricultural produce and a variety of nutritious products for sale.

Duckie praised the quality of the displays mounted by participating schools.

“A major component of this project is also the creative dish, and our schools were able to come up with innovative ways to use the produce,” he said.

Students’ creativity was reflected in a wide range of items on display, including natural juices, punches, wraps, vegetable dishes and pizzas prepared by home economics departments.

Schools competed in several categories, including Best School Garden, Best Display, Best Creative Dish and Innovation. Region Six emerged as the overall winner, followed by Region Three in second place and Region Five in third.

Dillete Hope Webb, director of the School Feeding Programme at the Ministry of Education, said the initiative continues to meet its objectives by promoting healthy eating habits and agricultural awareness among students.

“We know that students live what they learn so when you start them off from very early, we talk about food security and our national school nutrition policy, these gardens are in alignment with our policy direction at the ministry,” she noted.

Webb also revealed that infant schools and special education institutions were incorporated into the project this year. She added that the Ministry of Education has committed annual funding of $10m to support the initiative.

She further noted that the programme has benefited from strong partnerships, with HEART/NSTA Trust involved since its inception, while Sagicor Jamaica joined as a partner this year.

Organisers believe the continued expansion of the National School Gardens Project will help strengthen food security, promote entrepreneurship, and encourage healthier lifestyles among Jamaica’s students.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com