Farmers Vito Connell and Hazzard Joseph receive kits from Administrator/Finance Coordinator and Officer in Charge at IICA, Gregg Rawlins.
The IICA delegation in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Transformation, has handed over agricultural kits to beneficiary farmers under the ADOPT Caribbean – Soil Health for Climate-Resilient Agriculture Project.
The handover ceremony, held on August 19, 2026, at the IICA Delegation’s office, comes two months after the official close of the regional project, which worked to strengthen soil health and promote climate-resilient agricultural practices in Guyana, Jamaica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, a release from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture states.
In SVG, the recipient farmers Vito Connell and Hazzard Joseph, along with the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), participated in demonstration activities that tested different soil health practices under local farming conditions, including the use of compost and organic mulch.
Hazzard Joseph indicated that the project provided a valuable learning experience and helped improve her approach to farming.
“I can say that I am a better farmer today than I was when the project started. I am grateful for the equipment and the other items. I am willing and will continue doing farming so that I can help with the food security of my country, so that we can make things better for all farmers,” she is quoted in the release as having remarked.
Fellow farmer, Vito Connell, said the project changed his perspective on agriculture and reinforced the importance of productivity and efficiency.
“I am grateful to be part of this project. It has changed my perspective of agriculture. Agriculture is very expensive, we cannot be spending money and not getting any returns, we have to chart the path for those behind, for productivity, food security and economic efficiency,” he said.
The agricultural kits granted to the farmers include fungicides, insecticides, seeds, rain gauges, tensiometers, pH meters, water meters, hand lenses, sticky traps, thermometers, tarpaulins and other farming supplies. A gasoline-powered chaff cutter/silage machine was provided to support the farmers’ agricultural activities. The handover complements equipment to be provided to the Ministry under IICA’s Living Labs Platform for Productive Soil Restoration in the Americas Project (2025-FoHRSA), including a chipper/shredder, tiller and professional weed trimmer.
IICA representative in the Eastern Caribbean States Gregg Rawlins, said the two initiatives provide farmers and agricultural institutions with a more comprehensive package of support.
“We are supporting farmers and agricultural institutions with tools to prepare and manage land, restore and improve soils, manage water, monitor crops, address pests and diseases, improve forage management, and strengthen crop production,” Rawlins said.
“This is exactly the kind of integrated approach that is required if we are to build a more resilient and productive agricultural sector.”
Acting Chief Agricultural Officer Marcus Richards, who was present at the ceremony, described the handover as an investment in the capacity, productivity and resilience of farmers, noting the importance of placing soil health at the centre of sustainable agriculture.
“The Caribbean soil health and resilient agriculture project is therefore particularly relevant to St Vincent and the Grenadines’ future.”
The ADOPT Caribbean Project combined technical training, field demonstrations and partnerships to strengthen capacity in soil health, agronomy, irrigation management and other climate-smart agricultural practices.
The project was funded by the Government of New Zealand through its Climate Smart Agriculture Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean (NZCSA-LAC), as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), and was administered through the Ag Emissions Centre.
