Hurricane Maria left us without food supplies; and together with recent earthquakes, and COVID-19 food imported to the Island has increased to 90%. The Pitirre Agri-Educational Project will contribute to the Island's food security and will provide didactic and hands-on experiences in agriculture to 30 at-risk and very low-income youth living in the western area of the Island.
Almost 65% of the youth in Puerto Rico lives under the poverty levels, and 56% lacks food security. Food shortage has heightened due to delivery delays during disasters such as Hurricane Maria, earthquakes and COVID-19. Currently 85% of food is imported because agriculture was left behind. Our only solution to reduce low-income youth's risks of hunger and more poverty is to strengthen the agriculture industry by providing them with agriculture education.
The project will provide agricultural education to 30 at-risk and low-income students as part of a holistic intervention to complete their high school. Students will increase their knowledge and agriculture skills through didactical and practical experiences at Farm El Pitirre. The participants will learn about agriculture, finance, entrepreneurship, and sustainable farming methods. Also, we will increase the number of crops sowed of fruits, vegetables, and tubers (resistant to disasters).
This Project will improve the Island's food security by increasing the amount and diversity of crops produced in Puerto Rico. It will also decrease poverty and unemployment by increasing the amount of trained agriculture workers and farmers (150 in 5 years). In addition, services will be expanded to other community members such as: veterans, people with disabilities, out-of-school youth, and the unoccupied. It will also be a source of funds to ASPIRA to improve and expand services.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
