Earth Today | Grantham farmers win climate change quiz competition

ON NOVEMBER 28, when farmers in the hills of Clarendon would otherwise have been working in their fields, scores of them filed into Frankfield Church of God.

They were there to do battle on aspects of agriculture theory in the final of a farmers’ quiz competition that has been keeping their noses in the books over the past few weeks.

As the teams and their entourages began arriving, the excitement – and nervous anxiety – in the room swelled, climaxing in ear-shattering cheers at the final bell when the scores showed that team Grantham were the champions.

They had gone up against Top Alston, and at the end of the three-round 30-minute match fashioned on the popular Schools’ Challenge Quiz Competition, had amassed 25 points to Top Alston’s 19.

The win came as no surprise for team captain Michelle Powis, who had declared from day one that her team intended to take the title.

“Wi come fi win! From the beginning I’ve been saying wi going fi di title!” Powis said.

For their effort, team Grantham walked away with the champions’ trophy and a basket of goodies. Each member of the team was also awarded a $10,000 gift voucher from Stewart’s Hardware, chainsaws or leaf blowers, water tanks and aprons.

Each member of the runner-up team bagged gift certificates in the amount of $7,500, while members of the other two teams that made it to the semi-finals each won $5,000 gift certificates. Teams from the first round were awarded certificates in the amount of $2,500 each. All participants also received chainsaws or leaf blowers as well as water tanks.

“I’m so happy!” Powis added. “I wanted to paint my house, but didn’t know where the money was going to come from. Now I can paint my house!”

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

The quiz was a three-round, eight-team showdown among communities of the Rio Minho watershed that saw the farmers taking time off from their fields for a few hours each week to submit to formal teaching on agricultural practices geared towards protecting them from the hazards of climate change impacts, such as extended periods of drought and intense hurricanes.

In round one, Morgan’s Forest beat Silent Hill, Top Alston silenced Tweedside, John’s Hall whipped Peckham, and Grantham won Sanguinetti. Round two saw Grantham facing John’s Hall and Morgan’s Forest going up against Top Alston.

It was all courtesy of the Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund, established by the Caribbean Development Bank to finance disaster risk reduction and/or climate change adaptation projects at the community level.

With funds provided by the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union, implementing entity Environmental Health Foundation has, since the project was launched in February 2018, engaged farmers through training workshops and meetings of farmers’ groups.

As at March 31 this year, 40 training sessions featuring 458 farmers from nine beneficiary communities had been facilitated. The project is called Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change while Reducing Disaster Risk in Peckham, Clarendon, and Surrounding Communities.