Community group wants to use vacant PoS lots for planting

ORGANISER of the South East Port of Spain Cultural Workshop, Michael Morgan, is on a mission to change the lives of people in east Port of Spain, by implementing an agricultural programme for people in the community.

The Mustard Seed Foundation, the South East Port of Spain Achievement Organisation and the South East Port of Spain (SEPOS) Boxing Gym are among the organisations involved in the initiative.

The three-day workshop, which is being held at the boxing gym on Piccadilly Street in Port of Spain, is a tool to reduce unemployment and crime in Port of Spain, Laventille and Morvant. After the workshop, the organisers are hoping that they are allowed to used abandoned compounds in Port of Spain for agriculture ­– a move which will provide jobs for unemployed people in the target areas.

Morgan said: "We have contacted several Government agencies to lend a hand with the crime situation in our area and we see this as a means of rectifying (the problem) by empowering our community in order to do something and generate some level of income."

He said there is a lot of unused land in Port of Spain and he wants the Government to give them some assistance to develop into community gardens.

Morgan said classes will be available as he wants people to become agricultural entrepreneurs.