Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy, Lakeyia Joseph has announced that the government intends, very soon, to relaunch the National Association of Youth in Agriculture (NAYA) program.
She made the announcement while speaking as a guest on Focus on Government and Development recently.
NAYA was created in 2003 as an advocacy group to increase youth involvement in agriculture and agribusiness.
“We have decided to undertake a media launch on initiatives to reactive youth participation in agriculture with direct support from the government,” Joseph said. “And so we will initiate the request for expression of interest in which young persons will be able to seek financial support or to invest in agriculture and their agriculture enterprises and they will be invited to express to us the specific areas of interest on a pre-designed form that can be filled out online or in person.”
She continued, “They will then indicate the type of investment plan to make in a specific area of agriculture, fisheries or agribusiness, the problems, the challenges, and the opportunities that they are seeking to address or engage in agriculture. They will let us know exactly where they are and where they intend to be in that media launch, and so, we will be basically re-launching NAYA, the National Association of Youth in Agriculture.”
According to Joseph, in order to get a comprehensive sense of how these youths are targeted the ministry will engage the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT), the Dominica State College (DSC), and mentorship from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Furthermore, Joseph said she is excited about the initiative, “energized and ready to work.”
“A lot of the challenges that the youth are facing can and will be addressed through the Ministry of Agriculture,” she stated.
Meanwhile, the young minister spoke of her “Let’s Grow” initiative which aims to target young people, especially those involved in backyard farming.
She revealed that a lot of the youth don’t have access to land and the capital they need, “to start somewhere.”
“What I have decided to do is tap into the agricultural station at One Mile and they are going to provide me with seedlings for the young persons and we are going to get a chance to grow our own food together,” Joseph explained. “And eventually, when our production increases we will be able to take our produce to the supermarkets, we will be able to package them, vacuum seal them, chop them…”
She pointed out that there has been a growing interest in the initiative by youth of her constituency.
“I have seen the interest growing within the youth in the Paix Bouche Constituency and I am sure as soon as it kicks off officially we will see a massive interest among the youth in agriculture,” Joseph noted.
The “Let’s Grow” initiative is expected to start first in the Paix Bouche Constituency.
Full episode below:
Let’s grow… we’ve heard it all before! Guess what, millions gone and still nothing grows! Joseph, when do you start to grow a conscience? When? You are shameless as Skerrit himself.
This woman is in Skerrits Dominica what Göbbels used to be in Nazi Germany. A shameless mouthpiece whose only aim is to enrich herself, like her idol Skerrit, at the expense of her own country. These people make me sick.
Skerrits youth propaganda machine being primed for more corrupt things to come. It’s makes me sick to listen to these people, singing for their measly supper.
Distraction, Distraction and more distractions. We need new leadership.
That’s what we like to hear, Ms.Joseph. A breath of fresh air you are..