News
Department of Agriculture Famers Registration Training set for January 31
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, January 26, 2024 – Your backyard is the new grocery store! At least that’s what the Department of Agriculture wants for the Turks and Caicos Islands, with a mandate to make all residents backyard farmers by 2025. We spoke to Wilhelmina Kissonsingh, Director of Agriculture about how they plan to achieve the
Kissonsingh told us the first step had been collecting information.
“A Backyard Farmers survey was done by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) in 2023– Forty-six (46) individuals completed the backyard Farmers Survey with addresses registered in Providenciales, Grand Turk, and North Caicos.”
The Department then began a series of classes, from how to start egg production to hydroponic farm production, which the Director says has resulted in a marked increase in involvement in backyard farming. A four-step program has been initiated to maintain that increase; namely Training, Backyard Farm Visits, Prize Giveaways and a Backyard Farming competition.
As for the Backyard visits these are geared toward upskilling residents who may need expert help. “The DOA understands that home gardeners will need to be visited and this is done through the Extension Division, where visits are made to home gardeners/farmers to help them mitigate any garden issues they are struggling with and to ensure they are on the right path,” Kissonsingh said.
If that’s not enough, giveaways are on the table as well, “The DOA also has a Facebook page which, this year 2024, we plan to have multiple staging of prize giveaways on our Page. Participants will be rewarded if they participate in our online sessions which will come in various forms,” the director explained.
Finally, also coming in 2024, a Backyard farmer’s competition
“The aim is to make backyard farming exciting, attract new farmers and solidify the practices needed to have a successful backyard farm.”
Kissonsingh also detailed how the efforts were paying off.
“To date, the DOA has been getting positive feedback from backyard farmers. Backyard farmers attend our training sessions and they are very enthusiastically invested in learning; also establishing and maintaining their own backyard farm. We have also seen where the number of backyard farms has been increasing.”
The director told us that the long-term food production aim is to increase local food production and consumption through large-scale commercial production, small-scale subsistence production, and backyard yard farm production. The government is already eyeing a plot of land in Kew North Caicos that they say will be used not just to sublet to farmers but to package local produce.
“A Farm Registration workshop is set to begin January 31st. The Department says registered farmers (not backyard farmers) could access the agro-grant incentive program which provides up to 20,000 in grants. The farm registration workshop is open to all stakeholders and will be held at the Kew town farmers market from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.”
The overarching goal was not only economic relief, but health according to the Director 
“If we can increase the number of backyard farmers on each Island, then as a whole, the Turks and Caicos Islands will also see increased local food production. This will positively affect households where they will be eating more local produce, spending less on imported produce, and most importantly, having access to, and eating more nutritious food.”