BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Agricultural Sector in Nevis has seen an increase in its crop production for 2013, and an official declared that the island’s Agriculture Department intends to have greater yields this year.
This pronouncement was made by the Director of the Nevis Agriculture Department, Keithley Amory.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes Business, Amory said he could not have given the precise percentage increase of production for the period under review, because he was not in office. He was in the field at that time preparing for the Department’s Agriculture Open Day which will be hosted at the Villa in Charlestown on March 27 and 28.
“I will tell you that we have basically seen some increase in crop production, but by how much I can’t tell you.”
Amory explained that one of the Department’s aims for 2014 is to further build on what was achieved last year and to further increase production levels.
“The focus for 2014 is on increasing crop production across the board, especially water melons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes etc., and we would like to focus on improving livestock production.”
The Director informed that one of the problems farmers in Nevis are facing is the quick access to markets; especially importers who are not always willing to purchase local produce.
“In Nevis, I can say it is wide open. We just want the importers to come onboard with us to help us to offtake the produce. What we find happening is that many times when we produce an abundance of crops, because they are readily available, the importers do not offtake the amount that the farmers would bring. For example, if they are accustomed to bringing in a thousand pounds of cabbage, for instance, and we ask if they can offtake that thousand pounds immediately so that the farmer can go back to producing more, they would bring in other stuff to fill that space because the crop is readily available.”
He noted that markets are available for farmers, though they face challenges in accessing them, and this is one area that the Department hopes to fix during this year.
This, he said, would boost farmers output since the importers have the storage capacity to offload local produce.
The Director declared that the Agriculture Department assists farmers by giving subsidies and concessions on “all agricultural products or agriculture inputs”.
“Land preparation is heavily subsidised to enable them to increase their production,” he added.
