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Former youth development and national service minister Foster Cummings is accusing the United National Congress (UNC) government of dismantling a major labour-intensive agricultural initiative and putting hundreds of young people on the breadline.

In a video circulated across social media, Cummings claimed the Youth Agricultural Shade House Project at Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas, has been “shut down,” and that some 300 trainees who operated a co-operative on the site have been denied access.

The project, geared toward nationals aged 16-35 with an interest in agriculture, was designed to equip participants with the skills and resources needed for shade-house cultivation of high-value, short-term crops through an agricultural co-operative model. The one-year, full-time programme, which provided trainees with a $150 per day stipend, was a partnership between the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service and The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine.