With the impact of Climate Change being felt in a real way in Grenada it is critical that farmers and all those involved in the agriculture sector take measures that will mitigate against the negative impacts of climate change and extreme weather variability. School gardens form an integral part of school feeding programmes and contribute towards the promotion of agriculture within the school system.

This project has the explicit goal of introducing sustainable climate smart agriculture practices in twenty two schools across the seven parishes in Grenada. It is envisaged that the introduction of climate smart agriculture practices within these schools will enhance their ability to deal with climate and weather related impacts and increase the sustainability of their school gardens. The project will seek to build or repair poultry units which will provide organic matter for the creation of compost in the schools involved. This compost will then be used fertilizer for school gardens. It is expected that yields within the gardens as a result of improved soil nutrition brought about by the increased use of compost. The schools with poultry rearing programmes will also be supported by this project with the acquisition of a plucking machine. The machine will be used to de-feather birds killed for the school feeding programme in a more efficient manner and the plumage that is removed from the birds will be additional organic matter for use in composting .

Every school participating in this project will have a composting site set up in order to utilize all organic waste generated in the school kitchen, livestock and poultry units and from the school gardens (grass clippings, weeds etc.) as well.

The project will make available fifteen sheep (ewes) to fifteen students from fifteen schools in order to spur interest in small ruminant rearing among the student population and provide a ready source of organic waste matter for the generation of compost which will be used for soil nutrition in the school gardens. It is proposed that students from other schools will receive the offspring of these ewes so that the programme expands over time.

Many of the school gardens in Grenada depend almost exclusively on precipitation for irrigating plants, placing production in a precarious situation during periods of scarcity or drought. This project seeks to set up rainwater harvesting systems in ten schools across the country which will improve water capture and storage making crop irrigation more assured at these institutions.

In this project focus will be placed on making at least two schools ?Climate Smart Agriculture Models?, outfitting them with an upgraded poultry unit, rainwater harvesting system and a composting unit. These two schools will be the only schools getting the entire climate smart agriculture package. The two schools selected are the Westerhall Secondary School and the River Sallee Government School. It is envisaged that these two schools will serve as the CSA models which other schools around the island.

Another component of the project is the introduction of aquaponic technology to the St. Mary?s Primary School. It is hoped that this technology can take root in this school and then be replicated in other schools throughout the island where possible. The project also seeks to introduce rabbit production at the St. Mary Primary School. The rabbits will provide valuable organic waste which will support the creation of compost and teach the students how to care for and rear animals. The plan is not to use the rabbits for meat but to use them as a teaching tool for the children and a constant source of organic matter for composting.

This project is ambitious in scope as it seeks to bring CSA and other sustainable agriculture practices to a large cross section of schools across the territorial space of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. It is hope that project will spur sustainable agriculture activity at the targeted schools and that other schools around Grenada will also adopt CSA and other sustainable agriculture practices.

Goal:
To make agriculture production in select school gardens more sustainable and make them more resilient to the impacts of climate change through the practice of Climate Smart Agriculture and sustainable gardening practices

Objectives:
(i) To strengthen the small ruminant program and increase availability pen manure for compost production to be used in school gardens.
(ii) To introduce certain climate smart and sustainable agriculture practices in select schools across the island
(iii) To make at least two schools (Westerhall Secondary and River Sallee Gov?t School) model Climate Smart Agriculture
Schools.
(iv) To strengthen the poultry rearing program by building three new poultry units (Calliste Primary, St. Dominic?s RC and Harvey Vale Primary) and the repairing of four poultry units (Westerhall Secondary , Samaritan Presbyterian Happy Hill Primary Petite Martinique RC and Corinth Gov?t School)
v. Increase efficiency in the preparation of poultry meat through the introduction of appropriate technology
vi To improve the knowledge of students at St. Mary?s Primary School and increase food production for the school and nearby nursing home through the introduction of aqua-ponics and rabbit rearing.
vii To reduce the dependence on precipitation for irrigation at 10 schools in Grenada
vii To reduce the dependence on precipitation for irrigation at 10 schools in Grenada
viii To strengthen the capacity of the 4H unit by sending two senior officers to observe best practices in CSA and Sustainable agriculture in another country and conducting training for officers and students in areas of vegetable production.
ix) To produce Documentation for replication and potential up-scaling.
(x) To implement an efficient Monitoring and Evaluation system