Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green (left), interacts with participants in the Rural Youth Economic Empowerment Programme (RYEEP) Builder, during a graduation ceremony on June 13 last year, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.
The Jamaica 4-H Clubs officially commenced training for the 2025/2026 cohort of the Rural Youth Economic Empowerment Programme (RYEEP) Builder, on (January 20).
This marks a significant milestone in the organisation’s recovery efforts, following the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa in October last year.
Training was originally scheduled to begin in November but the organisation was forced to delay operations after the category-five storm devastated western and some southern parishes during its passage on October 28.
Acting Manager of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs Business and Entrepreneurship Development Unit, Odean Bernard, explained that the majority of the programme’s participants were also directly impacted by the hurricane.
“Our operations were delayed seeing that livelihoods were destroyed, farms were demolished, communication was pretty much non-existent for some of our selected participants; mobility was limited and… we thought it was best to give them some time to adjust and bounce back from their situations,” Mr. Bernard told JIS News in an interview on January 19.
Despite the challenges, including almost cancelling this year’s training due to funding issues from sponsors who were also impacted by Hurricane Melissa, 100 RYEEP participants will go through the six-month training programme.
The syllabus comprises four months of training in areas related to agriculture and livestock production, fisheries and agro-processing.
Mr. Bernard said that participants will also receive training in climate-smart agricultural practices.
“We’re big on climate-smart agriculture, being climate resilient and just sustainable farming overall, so with the passing of Hurricane Melissa, I think, now more than ever, persons will get that wake-up call and realise the need to follow the best practices that we actually teach here at the Jamaica 4-H Clubs,” Mr. Bernard said.
“So, they can expect all types of farming practices surrounding sustainability and [being] climate smart, as we don’t want this to be a recurrence and even if we should get hit like this again, we as young farmers, we should be in a better position to deal with the impacts from the hurricane or any severe weather condition that we do face,” he continued.
The final two months of the programme will include study tours, field trips and culminate with the programme’s flagship initiative, the RYEEP National Agribusiness Pitch Competition.
The quality of pitches from last year’s staging of the competition resulted in two participants being awarded joint first place, with each person receiving a grand prize of $1 million.
The first runner-up received $500,000 while the second runner-up was awarded $250,000. Prizes for the 2025/2026 pitch competition have not yet been confirmed.
The RYEEP Builder is open to individuals aged 18 to 35 who are already involved in agriculture and are not formally employed outside of this venture.
Meanwhile, the RYEEP Starter initiative, which applies to individuals in the same age range who are new to farming, remains on track.
Mr. Bernard said that applications will open in February, followed by the recruitment, selection and training processes.
Participants in the RYEEP Starter will be provided with farming knowledge, and a starter kit to launch their ventures.
Both RYEEP initiatives are organised by the Jamaica 4-H Clubs, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.
