By Suelika N. Buchanan
(Basseterre; St. Kitts): Ashton Stanley, who is presently the Acting Director at the Department of Agriculture will be representing St. Kitts at the ‘Science, Technology, Innovation and Foresight for Repositioning Caribbean Agriculture’ to be held in Grenada from September 18-21.
Stanley told SKNVibes.com that the workshop is a great opportunity for him to air the challenges that agriculture in St. Kitts faces and how they can get help.
According to a press release the mission of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) is to strengthen information and communication management capacities of agricultural and rural development organizations in the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States.
The mission is also charged with policy and institutional capacity development. CTA is committed to supporting the ACP region in building capacity and strengthening information and knowledge networks to participate in and lead policy processes on Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) to achieve sustainable and measurable impact in the agricultural and rural sectors.
~~Adz:Right~~ Stanley said that he is very please to participate in the workshop as ti may shed some light on the produce production that St. Kitts face.
He said presently, the island only produces goods during the early part of the year and face problems such as water irrigation.
“We want to be able to produce crops all year round so that hopefully we can count down in importing goods from overseas,” he said. “And this certainly will help with the country not being taxed as high for food goods.”
The Caribbean Council for Science and Technology (CCST) is an intergovernmental organization responsible for the promotion of cooperation in science and technology. The long term goal of CCST is to further the social and economic development of its member countries. Its mandate includes the promotion of cooperation for the mutual transfer of science and technology to facilitate the development and optimization of domestic and / or imported technologies.
The CTA and CCST’s workshop will build on the outcomes of the 5th Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for ACP Agricultural and Rural Development and the 2006 regional S&T meeting which is focused on enhancing the participation of Youth in the ST&I processes and preparation of an outline for the regional S&T plan.
“Anything which includes the good of St. Kitts and its goods, I’m more than happy to be apart of,” Stanley said.
