Chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul today commenced the first in a series of visits to primary and secondary schools across the island to in a bid to stimulate interest in the sector and Agrofest 2015.
During his visit to the Gordon Walters Primary School, Paul offered encouragement to students, while noting claims that young people were shying away from the industry.
“We want [you] to get engaged in activities dealing with agriculture. The interest that the school has in the 4H Club shows that we can demonstrate to them the kind of activities that can be engaged in as it pertains to agriculture and in that way then we can catch their interest,” Paul told the students gathered in the assembly hall.
“We continue to hear talk about people in agriculture getting older, but we think that if we can introduce young people as early as possible in agriculture, it means that they will get to know the activities. They will then be able to identify at a very early age what are the opportunities. That explains why we are working with schools at this stage.”
The BAS boss promised that students attending Agrofest 2015 would find it to be more educational than in previous years.
The agriculturalist further stated that students would be given the opportunity to win more prizes at next year’s event.
“We are trying to do something different for Agrofest 2015, emphasizing competition and trying to make the children appreciate agriculture. We want to show them how they can help to be part of the effort to improve agriculture generally within the island,” the CEO explained.