Tag Archives: hydroponics

CSA Course Highlights – Sandals Foundation Sponsor

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Our Sponsor for this Project

The Sandals Foundation sponsored 20 persons in Climate Smart Agriculture for Youth with Hydroponics and saw 14 successful participants who received training. The course started on 30th May 2022 and sessions were held every Monday – Wednesday from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. at GARD Center. 

The latter part of the training encouraged participants to engage in practical, hands-on training. In addition, field visits were made to Hydroponics Farms and Backyard Gardens. The practical components of the course encouraged persons to construct raised beds and a Mini Hydroponics Unit as part of a Start-Up Kit. Another part of the practical sessions encouraged participants to engaged in planting seeds as well as transplanting seedlings into raised beds. 


The course ended with a Completion Ceremony on Wednesday 31st August 2022 at GARD Center and the participants received a Mini Hydroponics and Backyard Garden Start-Up Kit with other complimentary tools to assist with their Backyard Gardening and Hydroponics journey. 

Completion Ceremony

Group photo with sponsor (Sandals Foundation), Ministry of Agriculture Representative, Trainees and GARD Center Staff



Hydroponics top student award, Fellisa Simon

Building Raised Garden Beds

  • Practical session and field visit for Back Yard Gardening & Hydroponics. Building of raised garden beds
  • Planting of Seeds

Introduction to the Hydroponics System

Backyard Gardening Field Visit to Mr. Osborne

  

GARD Center Hydroponic Programme for Strengthened Food Production – sponsored by Sandals Foundation

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News Release

Youth Hydroponic Programme to Strengthen Community Food Production and Livelihood Opportunities

The GARD Center (Gilbert Agricultural and Rural Development Center) is a grassroot non-profit, non-government organization which operates under the auspices of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA).  The Center is very pleased to announce its continuous partnership with the Sandals Foundation through its funding of the “Climate Smart Agriculture For Youth- Hydroponic” Project.

For the past thirty-two (32) years, the Center has been working arduously with at-risk youth, men and women in the community to engage them in various forms of sustainable agriculture for the 21st century.

With a primary focus of raising climate smart agriculture practices amongst young people towards long term food security, the Climate Smart Agriculture for Youth – Hydroponic programme seeks to:

  • Create awareness of the present and future threats related to climate change and agriculture.
  • Make youth aware of the contributions they can make in the agriculture sector for a better future, especially through the application of climate-smart practices in agriculture, during this COVID-19 period.
  • Train a total of 20 youth in hydroponics systems.
  • Build the capacity of participants to construct a hydroponic unit and provide a starter kit to include seeds, rockwool and a water pump.

The programme support forms part of the Sandals Foundation’s 40 sustainable community projects being executed across the Caribbean to commemorate its parent company’s 40th anniversary. Through its broad scale investment in a number of farming and agriculture educational programmes, the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts seeks to strengthen the Caribbean’s food security and livelihood opportunities.

About the Sandals Foundation

The Sandals Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts International (SRI), the Caribbean’s leading family-owned resort company.  The 501(c)(3) non-profit organization was created to continue and expand upon the charitable work that Sandals Resorts International has undertaken since its founding in 1981 to play a meaningful role in the lives of the communities where SRI operates throughout the Caribbean. The Sandals Foundation funds projects in three core areas: education, community and the environment. One hundred percent of the monies contributed by the general public to the Sandals Foundation go directly to programs benefiting the Caribbean community. To learn more about the Sandals Foundation, visit online at www.sandalsfoundation.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This partnership is in collaboration with the Agricultural Extension Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).  The GARD Center will expand its Climate Smart Agriculture programme that focuses on Hydroponics systems.

Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) – GARD Center Climate Smart Agricultural Training

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Supported by

The GARD Center continues to thank the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) for its support in the training of Women in Climate Smart Agricultural technologies with a focus on hydroponics and the blanching and freezing of vegetables in preparation for the dry season and the shortage of food.

This project has become increasingly more vital and timely as the year 2021 continued to unfold, with the delay in the supply chain universally.  Things worsened for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) at the turn of the year 2022 with the rumours of war, between Russia and Ukraine.  It seemed as though the world’s focus almost forgot about the COVID-19 pandemic which had thrown most of the world in a tailspin from early 2020, (and continues) with lockdowns and supply interruptions.

Although by the first quarter of 2022, government restrictions have slowly been lifted in Antigua and Barbuda, with the business sector starting to re-open, some women have still not been able to return to full time employment in the service industry due to the reduction of occupancy in many hotels and the cruise ship sector mainly operating at 50%.  The CFLI has been instrumental as the backbone of developing backyard garden plots and a demonstration hydroponic unit for trainees to get hands-on practice during this aspect of the training.  A few crops have been pre-planted for the Blanching and Freezing component of the course, etc.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues with various strains circulating; and health protocols put in place continue to change constantly, the actual start of the training component had to be deferred on several occasions.  The training course has started. Over the 25 women who showed interest in training in 2021, when the protocols ‘settled’ and training was ready to begin in January 2022, the Center had to delay the start date due to some women having restarted work during the day and would then have prefered evening sessions.  The recruitment drive continued.

Kid Unlimited School Visits GARD Center Hydroponics

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Two teachers of Grades 4 and 5 along with over 30 students from the Kids Unlimited School visited the GARD Center and its Hydroponics Unit on Wednesday, 4 March, 2020.

Mr. Ika Fergus, Extension Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture delivered a presentation on Hydroponics, which was very well received by the children.  During this tour they were able to see firsthand how lettuce is grown using this medium.  They were also able to receive a head of lettuce.

Thanks to Kids Unlimited School for being a part of our campaign to spearhead the ‘Hydroponics movement’ under the Sandals Foundation ‘Climate-Smart Agriculture Project Combating Effects of Climate Change’ on the local Agricultural Sector.