BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOUR members of the Community Achievers Project have transformed their love for farming into a venture that could not only prove profitable for them, but can also steer the nation towards healthier living.
The Community Achievers Project (a literacy programme) commenced in 2005 in the living room of Victoria Berkley, but evolved when her husband Sydney came onboard and introduced an agricultural element to the programme.
Last week, a team of four, which consisted of the Berkleys, 18-year-old Kyla Herbert and 17-year-old Joseph Hodge, went through Basseterre introducing persons and businesses to their fully organic, locally produced and package fruit juices and herbs.
The agro-processing-based business – operated from a Halfway Tree farm - involved the production and packaging of passion fruit juice, soursop juice, carambola (star apple) juice and dried lemon grass.
And in an exclusive interview with this publication, Mrs. Berkley explained that the business venture stemmed from her husband’s knowledge base relative to the benefits of organics.
“He has been teaching us all about things that his parents and grandparents taught him about natural healing, how you use fruits, leaves and different herbs to heal yourself. So we are now teaching this to our younger generation because it has become a lost art.”
She explained that inspiration for the business came from a number of places.
“The major thing we are trying to do right now is income generation. There are so many children who are graduating from college and high school and there are absolutely no jobs. They see no opportunity here and are losing a lot of our brain power because they are leaving this country. What we want to do is teach our youth how to see opportunity…we have fertile soil here and wonderful fruits and vegetables.
“Research has shown that the soursop kills cancer cells, but the problem is we cannot patent a leaf. That is why we don’t have these natural remedies in the United States because they know they can’t make money off a leaf. We are very fortunate to be living in a country that has natural things that we can heal ourselves with. Ezekiel 47:12 says that God made the fruit for meat and the leaf for medicine.”
Both Henry and Hodge indicated that they love farming, recognise its value and have every intention of “sticking with it”.
In his advice to other young persons, Hodge said it is time to “start doing some farming because it is a good thing. You can produce things which are purely organic and it can carry you far”.
And according to Herbert, “We need to get back to Mother Nature because there is a lot we can get from it.”
