As Jamaica gears up for a drier than normal rain pattern this year, the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) has opened a new aquaponics unit to train and sustainably provide vegetables and meat to its various stakeholders. The medium-size aquaponics unit forms part of the college’s Jamaica Adaptive Agriculture Program and will serve approximately 200 CASE outreach farmers island-wide and 215 CASE students annually.
Start-up costs for the climate-smart agriculture technology, its construction, water catchment facility, solar power technology, greenhouse, nursery as well as operational, training and technical assistance to operate the unit were financed by the Sandals Foundation at just over US$40,000. Garth Scott, one of the Research and Outreach Coordinator at the college said the unit will further sensitize the school’s stakeholders on environmentally friendly and rewarding practices.
“The unit has the capacity to grow approximately 4,000 food fish and 5,000 pounds of a variety of leafy vegetable every year despite the limited projection for rains. These kinds of output bear as a shining example to 4H clubbites doing on-site training, approximately 1,000 students who tour the campus annually and to local farmers who frequent the campus looking for appropriate technology for their farms.”
A secondary benefit, Markland Murphy, Projects’ Director at CASE noted, “will be the ability of the college to develop and operate business enterprises as part of our college’s enterprise development program.”