BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SMALL farmers in the Federation may soon be benefiting from additional discussions that have been ongoing between St. Kitts-Nevis and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
In his latest press conference, Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas said that at the recently-held Fifth Summit of the Americas he engaged the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, in discussions on the most suitable plan for the use of former sugar lands. Douglas said the Venezuelan President showed much interest in granting support to the development of small commercial farmers.
“What President Chavez was talking about was sending one or two technicians to study the situation and to see how Venezuela can help in terms of the diversification of our agriculture here in St. Kitts-Nevis,” Douglas informed.
Douglas told Chavez that Federation had already carried out a number of studies on land usage already, and rather needed financial resources to carry out further development.
“I informed him [President Chavez] that we’ve done a lot of studies; what we really need, I believe, is the necessary financial support, whether by way of a facility to the government or by way of a facility through the Development Bank so that small commercial farmers can access the necessary money to start their own commercial farming activities,” Douglas said.
The development of agriculture was among the most important responses to ensure food security and counter the negative effects of the economic crisis, the PM noted. He added that Venezuela is “very much onboard to help us in this regard”.
A similar bilateral relationship has been developed over the years with the Government of the Republic of China on Taiwan. The Taiwanese local mission now spearheads most of the local large-scale agricultural initiatives in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Federation’s Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris accompanied by his Financial Secretary Janet Harris and Accountant General Levi Bradshaw arrived in Caracas last Monday (April 20) to finalize details for financial support for the new thrust in agricultural development.
Over the last few days, Harris held bilateral discussions with Dr. Ali Rodriguez, Minister of People’s Power for the Economy and Finance, followed by talks with the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Nicolas Maturo and his Vice Minister Francisco Arios.
Information regarding the outcome of these discussions is expected to be made public shortly.
