The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the MIC Institute of Technology (MIC-IT) and the Export Centres Co Ltd (ECCL) will see ongoing collaboration between the two institutions in training people in using hydroponics systems.
Speaking at the signing ceremony at the MIC-IT head office in Trincity on Wednesday, hydroponics trainee and graduate Isaac Grant said completing this course gave him a further step up in his ambition to move from being a home farmer to being a commercial farmer.
'I always viewed farming as a business, but my ability to become successful is limited by my ability to obtain assets and the capital which would be needed to attain this goal. The training offers a mandatory business and entrepreneurship segment to help us know how we may gain funding for our farms and utilise the funds to succeed. I'm now more confident in my ability to produce crops more efficiently, safely, and profitably.'
He said the knowledge gained during the course has also helped him with his current job as a quality assurance worker at Blue Waters.
'My goal now is to gain the needed capital investment and put my farming skills to use, as learned in hydroponics class. I have goals and dreams of having my own hydroponics farm to plant exotic and exclusive crops to establish myself in the nations markets and supermarkets. I believe the knowledge we gained in the hydroponics course in terms of more efficient and alternate ways of farming is the real way to the future of farming.'
Grant said he hoped many more people would benefit from this A-class training.
MIC-IT CEO Anil Ramnarine said the institution was proud to be able to offer top quality technical and vocational training to the people of TT, and give the trainees real world experience in their chosen careers.
MIC-TT chairman Prof emeritus Clement Imbert said ECCL has contracted MIC-IT to carry out this and other courses, and he looked forward to further development of a symbiotic relationship between the two organisations, which he said could learn a lot from each other. He appealed to the Finance and Education Ministers to increase the allocation for the institution, as he said keeping international accreditation was expensive.
ECCL chairman Roger Roach said in developing the hydroponics course, the institution realised that the skills taught in the decades-old PVC furniture course could be repurposed to enable craft artisans to build hydroponics systems and approached MIC-IT to do the training. He said hydroponics is described as the art of gardening without soil.
'The ability to grow our own food is of paramount importance, and the opportunities that are available for agricultural entrepreneurs are endless. Twenty-five trainees completed the introductory stage of the pilot programme in December 22, and 25 trainees are currently engaged in the intermediate level. No dropouts, and the trainees should be congratulated. Our goal is to produce 25 hydroponics entrepreneurs, who will harness the skills, techniques, and technology, and turn
