Belize City at-risk-youths participate in vegetable production workshop in rural Belize District

Photo Credit: MAFSE

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: The Leadership Intervention Unit trainees from Belize City participated in a vegetable production workshop at the farm of Ronald Brooks in Santana in the rural Belize District. At the Brooks farm, the trainees applied the ‘Learning by Doing’ teachings on vegetable production theory they had learned in previous sessions.

The Leadership Intervention Unit trainees, youths at risk of joining gangs, worked in a covered structure with a drip irrigation system. Their activities included planting bed preparation, transplanting vegetable seedlings, sowing vegetable seeds, and the preparation of outdoor plots.

Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise (MAFSE) extension officers taught them organic vegetable production topics such as plant nutrition, plant pathology, and harvesting methods. They focused on a few crops, such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, lettuce, cilantro, basil, and herbs. The trainees also learned how to use these vegetables to make traditional foods more nutritious and improve their diets.

This vegetable production pilot program aims to prevent and reduce violence by engaging youth at risk of joining gangs in food security activities through crop production. The program teaches them how to grow crops both in covered structures and open fields.