Farming as an Alternative to Crime and Violence

At-risk youths wanting a new lease on life may want to consider agriculture as an alternative to crime and violence. To assist in that transition, the Leadership Intervention Unit is teaming up with the Ariel Rosado Foundation to lease a hundred and twenty acres of arable land for planting and cultivating crops.  These plants would be grown and harvested for commerce by young men who are interested in taking up farming. It is the latest move by the L.I.U. to engage at-risk youths in meaningful activities.

Kareem Musa

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“The Leadership Intervention Unit last October, got the support of cabinet and the government in launching its program, a lot of it having to do with creating opportunities.  And I am very happy to announce that we caught the attention of a very philanthropic humanitarian in Dr. Alvaro Rosado who has very generously offered to the Leadership Intervention Unit one hundred and twenty acres.  We are working out the details of this memorandum of understanding, but basically it is a farmland that we are looking at.  We obviously would need a lot of support from other members of the private sector, as well as government in terms of the technical support for agriculture, setting up greenhouses, clearing the property so the Ministry of Infrastructure [Development & Housing] has also communicated their support for this initiative and it’s just, like I said, all in line with a very holistic approach, a comprehensive approach that the L.I.U. is implementing because we know there are a lot of our at-risk youths who want opportunities to engage in farming.  Not all of them, some of them do want that opportunity and we have to ensure that we create those opportunities and find them.  So publicly, I want to thank Dr. Alvaro Rosado for this very kind gesture on his part and he is doing it in honor of his late son and cyclist Ariel Rosado. And so we will definitely honor him and ensure that this project is a success.”