04/07/2021
Today, the Yard Market continues to promote a vital hub for home-gardening, practical agriculture, hand-made and home-made products and other social enterprise.
… going the whole nine YARDS! 🥳
Entrepreneurship, self-sufficiency and youth engagement has occupied our conversations as development issues for some time in T&T.
Sustainably linking them to agriculture, especially in ways that secure the livelihoods of both urban and rural families and communities is another challenge, said agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj.
The COVID-19 restrictions, however, have given Maharaj and his family the opportunity to further test the lessons of their advocacy over the years; spinning unemployment and despair into a way forward.
As such, with the onset of the pandemic, the 🤩 🤩 was born as year ago out of concern for the sustainability of food sources and the cost of appropriate food and nutrition.
“One year ago I was buying top soil by the truck loads. Cleaning the grasses, chunks of clay, rock, and debris and bagging to afford people who would support us, a basis to start or continue their household food production journey regardless of how small,” Maharaj explained.
Today, the Yard Market continues to promote a vital hub for home-gardening, practical agriculture, hand-made and home-made products and other social enterprise.
“I always wondered about the state of this economy and generally, development policy and planning in agriculture for some time.
“Sharing experiences in China, India and locally to prompt awareness, national conversation and action has been successful over the years. Nonetheless, I have not had full-time employment in this country since April 2015 – with a growing family and rising cost of living, we’ve certainly felt the pains much sooner than the pandemic,” Maharaj said.
While the Market initially focused on home gardeners, Maharaj observed that the activities caught the favour of traditional farmers, noting that the farming demographic has been changing in the past year.
“While a lot of conversation happens around the common basket of goods (vegetable production), I’m happy that there are farmers planning ahead and strategizing for their net income and the market,” Maharaj said.
He added that one farmer in particular was putting a longer-term focus on fruit production with a Rambutan field with plants sourced through our Market.
According to Maharaj, garden design, extension support, research, sharing, networking, seeking out inputs is the gamut of activities in building an eco-system especially in a constrained environment.
“Planning and advancing food and nutrition security is a clear challenge for T&T. In the absence of an overarching policy framework for sustainable agriculture and rural development, key stakeholders will continue to misdirect advocacy and scarce resources jeopardizing the national good. This multi-dimensional issue needs vision and leadership.”
He added that the challenge for food security is that in the circumstances, traditional food exporting countries (our import markets) may revisit their export strategies and internal policies towards building reserves and distribution confidence in order to maintain the food and nutrition security of their populations. Trade logistics is also under pressure, Maharaj said.
“For import dependent countries like ours, international crises especially associated with our major trade partners can have deep repercussions on our local economy and people whose livelihoods are undoubtedly interconnected,” he added.
In a budget presentation, the Minister of Finance pointed out that 194,000 people make a living on minimum wage.
This, Maharaj said, is frightening in the circumstances where sectors and businesses which traditionally use this type of labour is facing an unprecedented slowdown.
“We need to have a serious rethink of development policy and planning in agriculture; a sector that has suffered from a history of underinvestment and failed policy. In order to systematically reduce our reliance on foreign food products and bolster our own capacity, there must be a fundamental shift in the sector’s priority.”
The Yard Market celebrated its first anniversary in June by freely distributing over 10,000 pounds of honey dew melons, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and other produce in partnership with farmers from Mayaro and central Trinidad.
The Market will continue to raise public awareness and education about the sector as people have become increasingly conscious about decisions around food production and consumption.
“When we consume food that was grown locally or at home specifically, we make choices that promote true sustainability - while directly supporting those who are supporting us – farmers, fishers, families, niche market entrepreneurs, local manufacturers and those along the food value chain,” Maharaj noted.
💪😎 BUILDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Annaly Maharaj, whose contract was terminated after being a preschool teacher for the past 10 years, said the Yard Market has assisted her in numerous ways.
Not only has it become a means of survival but she has also established a growing customer base.
Annaly, who was inspired by her husband to do unique pickles, including onion and pimento and also guava butter, joined forces with her friend Sasha Mahabir who specializes in a variety of sauces to go into business.
“I started off at the Yard Market and I also got the opportunity to go to the other markets which helped greatly in establishing and marketing the products,” she said.
And despite sales being drastically reduced due to the pandemic, Annaly is still able to maintain some of her loyal customers.
For Dexter Ragoonanan, the Yard Market has enabled his worm casting business also known as vermiculture to be pivotal for sustainable agriculture.
Taking scraps from organic waste like vegetable peels, Ragoonanan then transforms this with the help of earthworms into natural, nutritious fertilizer for plants.
“This is a sustainable, locally produced organic soil and plant fertilizer. Excellent for container gardening and backyard gardens.”
“It’s also well suited for people who are health conscious as we all should be,” Ragoonanan added.
However, when he first started about 10 years ago, business was slow because vermiculture was a new concept for T&T.
Over the years it has gained momentum and moreso with the rise of home gardening during the pandemic.
“The Yard Market has effectively exposed in a timely manner this product during the pandemic. More gardeners are using our worm castings because of the Yard Market.
“Our goal is for worm castings to be a must-have for use in the garden for T&T and hopefully the wider Caribbean,” Ragoonanan added.
