WHYFARM, Trinidad and Tobago

Project name: WHYFARM

Project location: Trinidad and Tobago

Website: http://whyfarmit.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whyfarm/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WHYFarmit

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whyfarmit/?hl=en

Project description:

“We are growing future feeders; we want to ensure there are people to feed us in the future" We teach youths about food and nutrition security, creatively showing them why and how they can contribute towards decreasing hunger and Malnutrition now and in the future. By using AgriEduTainment tools (comics, theater, visual arts, music and poetry) we invented the world’s first and only "Food and nutrition Security Superhero Team" lead by "AGRIman and PhotosyntheSista " to rebrand the culture of Agriculture and transform it to AgriCOOLture.”
 

About Us:
WHYFARM (We Help You-th Farm) aims at promoting agriculture among children by increasing their awareness on how they can contribute to solving the world’s food problem and by doing so grow the future feeders of 2050. This is done by transforming the negative perception associated with agriculture among communities, children in particular into a sector which is worthwhile through agri-edutainment (agricultural educational entertainment) to counter the challenges related to food and nutrition security.
 

Our Solution
WHYFARM introduces, AgriEdutainment (Agricultural Educational Entertainment) strategies to capture the youth starting with their thought process to influence their decision making with regards to food and nutrition security.
Via AgriEdutainment we invented AGRIman which features the first Food & Nutrition Security Superhero that teaches children the importance of Agriculture and targets them to become part of the process. To support this endeavor we have produced a comic book and a Motion comic animation, along with an AGRIMAN Fan Membership club.
Our primary objective is to develop a new generation of food producers by using innovative, creative and attractive strategies to re-brand the culture of Agriculture.
Practically this comes down to visiting schools, attending trade fairs, trade shows, developing and designing camps, training programmes, cartoons, short films, using theatre arts , music, poetry and visual arts to creatively convey the messages of food and nutrition security.

AGRIman AGventures Core Focus Areas

The following 6 components would be the main focus of the AGRIman AGventures series for the items we have developed and those working on developing such as; comic and activity book series, AGRIman playbook (Fun and Food Curriculum), APP, cartoons and short video series:

• Plant 1 Tree Eat 4 Free (Farming)
• Eat Healthy and Nutritious foods
• Eat Local foods
• EnviroCare (care for environment, understanding climate change, water, soil etc)
• Zero Wastage (Ricesponsibility-NOT wasting a grain of rice)
• Showing empathy to others (giving charity (food) to the less fortunate)
• AGRIinnovation (developing creative solutions to that problem you care about the most).

Impact so far
In less than two years, young people worldwide saw our innovation; AGRIman to be a solution to their problems of youth engagement in agriculture. We were able to launch in seven countries: Zambia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, Colombia, Cameroon and Haiti.
We were invited to attend and present our innovation at several global meetings, such as ECOSOC youth forum at the UN Headquarters in NYC 2017, AGTalk speaker at the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome, Italy 2016, the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services annual meeting in Cameroon 2016 and closing keynote speaker at the Thought For Food global summit in Amsterdam 2017.
“We believe in collaboration not competition, complementing not reinventing. Join us on our adventure to grow future feeders by the year 2050 TOGETHER”.

Goal and purpose of the project:

Our primary objective is to develop a new generation of food producers by using innovative, creative and attractive strategies to re-brand the culture of Agriculture.
Practically this comes down to visiting schools, attending trade fairs, trade shows, developing and designing camps, introducing training programmes that meet the following objectives:

1. To design, develop and introduce simple, attractive, and creative Agricultural messages to encourage and educate youths in Agriculture.
2. To sensitize and promote awareness of the importance of Agriculture and highlighting the roles that each person can take towards becoming food secure.
3. To build capacity among the youth in entrepreneurship (Agripreneurship) for improved livelihoods and food security in communities and nations at large.
4. To build capacity and knowledge in agriculture among children/youths for the long term improvement of livelihoods and food security in communities

Mission Statement
Promotion of Agriculture among children by increasing their awareness of the world food crisis and in doing so, grow the future feeders of 2050.
Vision Statement To create the next generation of farmers and entrepreneurs (agripreneurs) to boldly develop out-of-the-box innovations that help solve the greatest challenge facing our collective future: food security.
Motto: Growing Future Feeders from the Ground up
 

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

WHYFARM have developed a solution to creatively engage youth in agriculture which we now call AgriCOOLture or SWAGRICULTURE.
WHYFARM is at a turning point. We have been successful in agriculture educational entertainment (agri-edutainment) for children locally and in the Caribbean by using products that have been produced with few resources and the time has now presented itself for expansion to expand. This is solely due to the need of deal with this problem, on a much bigger scale and with global interest. WHYFARM’S plan is to extend its influence it has on the perception of agriculture among kids worldwide to make agriculture cool (agriCOOLture).
The WHYFARM team will continuously promote its concepts and advocate the need to increase the awareness among kids on the important role of agriculture, ensuring an increase in career professionals in Agriculture by 2050. This will in turn impact the world’s food security on a global scale, contributing positively to reducing hunger and malnutrition.
To realize the development path described above, financial resources are essential.

Use of prize money:

#youforG20 prize money will definitely help us with achieving the necessary global visibility to help us connect with possible funding agencies investors, grantees etc. Through the award lots of networks will be gained

The prize will also assist in us completing our AGRIman playbook and possibly do a short animated series of AGRIman aAgventures. Also though the award we might be in a better position to connect with larger agencies such as Marvel or Disney. AGRImn is here to stay and the impact of AGRIman is limitless. Agriman message is indeed important and through this award young persons will be more inspired to want to be more like AGRIman and PhotosytheSista.