{"id":301023,"date":"2023-03-31T11:58:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T15:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=301023"},"modified":"2023-03-31T11:58:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T15:58:32","slug":"national-association-of-youth-in-agriculture-to-be-relaunched-with-lets-grow-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/national-association-of-youth-in-agriculture-to-be-relaunched-with-lets-grow-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"National Association of Youth in Agriculture to be relaunched with ‘Let’s Grow’ initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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.<\/p>\n

She made the announcement while speaking as a guest on Focus on Government and Development recently.<\/p>\n

NAYA was created in 2003 as an advocacy group to increase youth involvement in agriculture and agribusiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have decided to undertake a media launch on initiatives to reactive youth participation in agriculture with direct support from the government,\u201d Joseph said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Joseph said she is excited about the initiative, \u201cenergized and ready to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the challenges that the youth are facing can and will be addressed through the Ministry of Agriculture,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the young minister spoke of her \u201cLet\u2019s Grow\u201d initiative which aims to target young people, especially those involved in backyard farming.<\/p>\n

She revealed that a lot of the youth don\u2019t have access to land and the capital they need, \u201cto start somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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,\u201d Joseph explained. \u201cAnd 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\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed out that there has been a growing interest in the initiative by youth of her constituency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Joseph noted.<\/p>\n

The \u201cLet\u2019s Grow\u201d initiative is expected to start first in the Paix Bouche Constituency.<\/p>\n

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Full episode below:<\/p>\n