Grow It Yourself (GIY) Challenge
Overall Winners GIY 2022
District Winners GIY 2022
GIY 2021 Winners
2020 WINNERS!!!
Background
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ‘this pandemic is impacting global food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains, and posing risks to household food security’. While Trinidad and Tobago’s Government has been guided by the WHO as well as local medical experts in the management of this worldwide pandemic, what is also needed to support the social services initiatives is parallel strategies to address the immediate to medium term impact on families due to loss of jobs, reduced incomes, threat to food supply and many of the other socio and psychological effects of the households within communities.
The Ministry of Sports and Community Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries (MALF) have collaborated on a Kitchen Garden Initiative to support the call for increased food production but focusing on the micro level of the households within communities. This initiative takes a community based approach and through a competition format seeks to provide incentives for persons to adopt home gardening. The initiative further supports the Agriculture Ministry’s grow box project and seed distribution initiative which targets 50 000 households.
BROAD GOALS
1. Stimulate interest in home gardening within communities
2. Support Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries seed distribution programme by providing incentives for uptake
3. Support national call to improve food security through planting of short and long terms crops
4. Support need for healthier lifestyles in communities
5. Encourage first time home gardens
6. Encourage young persons to participate
7. Stimulate interest in this type of agricultural pursuit of cultivating kitchen gardens by homeowners and small scale gardeners,
8. Explore agriculture as another avenue to building resilience in communities through the adoption of new family oriented activities
9. Provides another platform for Best Village programme competition
10. Encourage /teach use of small spaces to plant a kitchen garden
For this year’s competition please click the following link