Above: Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke

By the Caribbean Journal staff

A new pilot programme in Jamaica aims to find employment for rural youth in the agricultural sector.

The initiative, which was announced yesterday by Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke, will be based in the short term in Trelawny, St Ann, Manchester and St Thomas, areas that were selected “based on the level of poverty in those areas,” he said.

“The project will contribute to the reduction of rural youth unemployment by increasing the ability of youth to access sustainable livelihood options,” Clarke said. “This will be achieved through capacity building of rural youths, through the provision of skills training, agriculture and agro-processing, and increased access to post-harvest production facilities to improve the agriculture value-added.”

The programme will target both young people in school and those who are unattached, with a special focus on the latter.