EU Backs New Push to Get Caribbean Children Farming as Saint Lucia Schools Join Regional Food Security Drive

The Zero Hunger Trust Fund (ZHTF) has launched a major European Union-backed initiative aimed at changing how the Caribbean grows its food by starting in the classroom.

The 18-month EU-CaN “Cultivating Futures” project will empower more than 1,600 children across Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with hands-on training in climate-smart agriculture, while helping reduce the region’s heavy dependence on imported food.

In Saint Lucia, Ciceron R.C. Combined School and Augier Combined School have been selected from several applicants to participate in the programme.

At the heart of the initiative is a simple but ambitious idea: transform school gardens into living classrooms where students learn to grow food while supporting their own school meal programmes through a practical “garden-to-lunch” model.

The project will establish or strengthen ecological school gardens in ten primary schools across the four participating countries, teaching students aged 5 to 11 critical skills such as climate-smart farming, soil management, rainwater harvesting, nutrition, and environmental stewardship.

The virtual launch brought together regional policymakers, agricultural specialists, and youth advocates, who described the initiative as a strategic response to rising food insecurity, climate change, and escalating food import costs affecting Caribbean nations.

Safiya Horne-Bique, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Zero Hunger Trust Fund, said the project is designed to create lasting benefits that extend beyond the classroom.

“This project also supports the use of practical tools for school assessment, planning, monitoring, learning and documentation,” Horne-Bique said.

“The intention is to create a space where students can learn by doing, where science, agriculture, health, nutrition and environmental education become practical and visible, and where the produce of the garden can contribute meaningfully to schools and community life.”

Organisers hope the initiative will also reshape young people’s perception of agriculture by presenting it as an innovative, technology-driven career with opportunities in the growing green economy rather than simply traditional farming.

Beyond the students, teachers, school cooks, and school administrators will receive specialised training in nutrition, safe food handling, and menu planning to ensure the gardens directly improve the quality of school meals.

Horne-Bique also emphasised the broader regional significance of the programme.

“Let us build gardens that do more than produce food. Let us build gardens that teach, gardens that nourish, gardens that strengthen schools, and gardens that reconnect young people with agriculture and the environment.”

The project is funded by the European Union through its EU Caribbean Fund for Nutrition (EU-CaN) programme and is expected to strengthen food security, promote climate resilience, and help cultivate the next generation of Caribbean agricultural leaders.

The post EU Backs New Push to Get Caribbean Children Farming as Saint Lucia Schools Join Regional Food Security Drive appeared first on Saint Lucia Daily Post.