Bethabara Primary looking to brand, market greenhouse crops

THE BETHABARA Primary School in Newport, Manchester, is looking to brand and market the high-quality crops and value-added products from its greenhouse farm.

Principal of the institution, Cecil Hamilton, said that the farm, which is a key part of the school’s “teaching and learning experience”, produces vegetable crops such as pak choi and sweet pepper.

The items are supplied to the canteen to create healthy meals for students and staff, with excess crops sold to vendors and other persons in the community.

Value-added items such as juices and punches are also made from the vegetables, which have won awards for the school in the Jamaica 4-H Clubs competitions.

“We did some green juice, which was a hit,” Hamilton boasted.

The principal said the school administration is looking to get the vegetables and by-products into supermarkets across the parish, noting that dialogue has commenced with the HEART/NSTA Trust for a possible partnership to brand and package the items.

Noting that the farm serves as a learning tool, Hamilton said there is opportunity for the facility to be utilised in providing practical training for students studying agriculture.

“Students who are on work experience could come and share, and work in the greenhouse,” he noted.

The pupils at Bethabara Primary play a key role on the farm, participating in the planting and harvesting of the crops.

Teacher, Dionne Salkey Francis, who supervises the farm, said the students are enthusiastic about working in the greenhouse and taking care of the plants.

“They love to see the plants pop up and start growing, and my role is to supervise them to ensure that the plants get the care they need,” she said.

“They will do the percentage of how many suckers will grow, germinate, and how many losses. At that time, too, we will have them, after the trees start bearing, we have them calculating how many pounds of pepper we can get from one tree,” she pointed out.

Salkey Francis added that the students are among the first to try out recipes created from the greenhouse crops and were the first to sample the pak choi drink, which was a winning entry in a 4-H competition.

“They were the ones who gave us the feedback that this is so tasty, this is so good, so, we ran with it, we put it in the competition, and it was a sell-off,” she said.

Salkey Francis welcomes the move to brand and package the crops and value-added items, noting that “it will put us further on the map”.