Science coordinator of St Paul's Primary School, Cliff King (right), giving students Janeil King (left) and Shariel Theodore instructions and a helping hand with rabbit care.

Students at St Paul's Primary School are doing their bit to increase food production – and earn some dollars.

The Class 4 students are rearing rabbits and growing a range of vegetables – cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli, beans, sweet pepper and tomatoes.

Sixty-nine students are involved in the sustainable farming project, which is supported by the United Nations Development Programme/ Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture.

"The project enables children to rear rabbits as an alternative source of food," science coordinator
for the school Cliff King explained.

"The meat may also be sold to bring in extra income.
It is the same with the vegetables."

But the project also has an educational component. "Rabbit rearing is used as a teaching tool to coordinate
all aspects of the curriculum," King said. "We use it
to teach maths, for example. Children have
to weigh and measure the rabbits.

"We also use it for social studies,
to look at the various species
of rabbits, where they come from,
how they survive and those things."

King also pointed out that the students keep records of the activities and their findings.

Eleven rabbits, including New Zealand Whites and Flemish Giants, are being reared at the school's temporary location at the Bay Primary School in Bayville, St Michael, but several of the students and their families are rearing rabbits at home – a spinoff of the project.

"Rabbits are prolific breeders," said King, pointing out that five were pregnant.

The rabbits bear such names as Champagne, Janice, Carla and Lynn. Waste from the rabbit-rearing project is used as fertiliser for growing vegetables, some of which could also be used to feed the rabbits. (TY)