Best Care Special Education School targets self-sufficiency

IN ENSURING that the Best Care Special Education School in Kingston becomes self-sufficient, administrators have already looked towards expanding its recently established vegetable farm and shade-house project.

Speaking with The Gleaner at Wednesday’s launch of the project, Geneva Cooper, farming and vocational class teacher, stated that the first set of crops reaped from the farm were bountiful and that the aim is for the farm to eventually be able to supply the school’s cafeteria.

The farm, she said, currently consists of cucumbers, Scotch bonnet peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and callaloo, among other crops. The next step, she said, was to evaluate how the institution could make efficient use of its limited space for farming activities so as to maximise operations and also to delve into hydroponic farming.

The project was executed by the Kiwanis Club of Constant Spring in partnership with Food For the Poor, St Andrew Junior Chamber, and the Jamaica Agricultural Society with funding from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica, and the Forestry Department.

Cooper explained that students were the ones who tilled the soil, sow the seeds and cared for the seedlings, which were then transplanted into pots and on the farm. The potted plants were being sold to community members along with vegetable seedlings in order to generate additional income.

“We have the capacity to basically sow and produce over 4,000 seedlings or higher per month from this greenhouse. In fact, the RADA (Rural Agricultural Development Authority) extension officer told me that we can have more than 10,000 seedlings per month being generated,” she said.

HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT

The institution, which has been operating independently since 2017, caters to 165 students aged six to 21 years.

“We are looking at holistic development of the students, and if possible, having students use this as an income earner for themselves later on in life. You know students with disabilities are disenfranchised in many capacities, and if they can use farming as a tool, as a way of enhancing themselves, we want to provide them with that kind of option,” she said.

During his remarks, chairman Orville Johnson also expressed his vision of expanding the project, detailing that building upwards was a more efficient way for it to be executed.

“We go right up and produce about five floors ... . I’ve seen some stuff now in China with 24-floor buildings that are farms, so the area is not a restriction anymore ... we can [grow upwards], so the possibilities are great,” he said.

This was not the first time that the school had tried its hands at establishing a farm on its grounds, but after facing water issues for many years, it could not have been executed, Johnson revealed.

Through the institution’s water-harvesting programme, with catchment facilities of a holding capacity of 22,000 gallons of water, the water woes have been alleviated.

“It has come in pretty handy, and what we need to do now is to expand because we have found out that we need to do a little bit more now,” he explained.

State minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth, Marsha Smith, who was also in attendance, stated that the ministry recognised that administrators at the institution have made a “meaningful impact” in the lives of Jamaicans with special needs.

Smith expressed delight in being able to witness the agricultural aspect of education taking place as “emphasis on school gardens is an important part of the ministry’s approach to nutrition policy”, she said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com