The COVID-19 global pandemic demands an evolution of the models for food production, food safety, and health and wellness in Trinidad and Tobago. Such an evolution urgently requires a combining of technical know-how in food production with local knowledge and circumstances; it needs the inclusion of people from all walks of life. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) with their distinct strengths must be included.
In early May 2020, a multidisciplinary team responsible for the deployment of two campus- led projects took on the charge to make seed kits available to PWDs. By May 26, the initiative had kicked off with a handover to the Autistic Society of Trinidad and Tobago at the St Augustine Campus.
The project combines seed bank research funded by The UWI/Trinidad and Tobago Research and Development Impact (RDI) Fund, Sustainable Seeds of Survival (UWI-SOS), with a UNDP Global Environmental Finance Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) initiative for PWDs, together with support from the NGO Flying Tree Environmental Management.
In this initial phase, Dr Sharda Mahabir, National Coordinator for GEF SGP Trinidad and Tobago, secured seeds from several agricultural input suppliers to create a seed kit for distribution to 265 vulnerable households throughout the country. UWI-SOS agreed to use its RDI seed project and provide seed kits consisting of 16 varieties of seeds, mostly grown at the University Field Station, to reach a further 70 groups. Flying Tree provided the PWD NGOs with pots created from recycled plastic bottles. The seeds are not for sale or resale.
The St Augustine Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Student Life and Development Department will use the experience gained in this first phase to scale up to other groups such as Persons Associated with Visual Impairment, the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities, and the Consortium of Disability Organisations, as well as several UWI students with disabilities and medical conditions.
This project will form the basis of a wider effort to be proposed by the Faculty of Food and Agriculture as an immediate to medium term response to food security.
