BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Agriculture Department of Nevis has made Food Security on the island a major priority.
This was revealed to SKNVibes Business during an interview with the Director of the Nevis Agriculture Department, Keithley Armory, who explained that they are using the Agriculture Open Day to drive the Food Security initiative.
“It is a high priority drive for us! As a matter of fact, our theme for our Open Day is ‘On the Road to Food Security’. So, food security is a very important drive for us.”
He noted that the Department is currently partnering with sister isle St. Kitts to up the production of breadfruit. And another major produce on which the Department is focusing its attention, is improved production levels of cassava. These, he said, would be two important produce in the Food Security drive.
“We are working together with St. Kitts in terms of their breadfruit production. We have one person who has already planted over an acre of pure stock breadfruit; so we are actually pushing towards it. Cassava is another major crop we intend to expand in terms of ensuring that we have food on the ground.
“That food production is very important if we need to have enough food for everybody, economically. The general thrust that we are trying to showcase to the general public, are all the avenues or methods that can be used to produce food so as to ensure there is adequate food available to them and their families.”
The Director declared that greater attention would also be placed on improving livestock production on the island, noting that there has been a deficiency of this production on the island because of theft and canine attacks.
“It (livestock) is on the decline because of dog attacks and praedial larceny, but we are still trying to encourage farmers to run their livestock as a business. Many of them still have it like a bank…when they want something they sell a few animals. So we are trying to encourage them to see their livestock production as a business, and that is the focus we intend to push.”
He however stressed that land is a major constraint to farming and livestock rearing in Nevis.
The Agriculture Open Day, which is being held at the Villa in Charlestown, commenced this morning (Mar. 27) and will conclude tomorrow.
