Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 26, 2016 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Agriculture has provided an avenue for investors to benefit from their investments through the hosting of an Agriculture and the Law Symposium 1 held under the theme “Creating an Enabling Environment for Investment in Agriculture”.
The symposium was held on Tuesday, May 24, at the Department of Agriculture Conference Room. The Honourable Eugene Hamilton, Minister of Agriculture briefly outlined the aim of the symposium.
“This symposium offers the opportunity for improving the education of all through the sharing of experiences,” he said. “This symposium offers promises to inform future legislation for the protection of producers against loss as a result of praedial larceny, of attacks by dogs, and loss as a result of untethered animals, just to name a few.”
He said that there are issues that can only be addressed by the law and therefore the symposium has the potential to correct the deficiencies in the laws and practices surrounding agriculture with the “hope of strengthening legislation and offering hope to the farmer in protecting and securing his hard earned income.”
The minister stated that there are a number of laws that are directly and indirectly related to agriculture.
“We will focus on two acts, the Plant Quarantine Act, which has been with us for many years and has gone through a number of changes over the years,” he said. “We would also be looking at the Registration of Vendors Act, which is still relatively new, but it is a major deterrent to praedial larceny if properly understood and implemented. Praedial larceny can be a major disincentive to farming and government must do all in its power to build this sector, the agriculture sector and to protect the farmers from praedial larceny.”
Minister Hamilton noted that the Plant Protection Legislation presently used in St. Kitts and Nevis was developed for the Federation in the 1940’s and updated periodically. He noted that the terms of trade have changed drastically as the country signed onto trade agreements in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and internationally.
“The version we shall be examining considers the modern realities,” he said. “In fact, it is intended to be harmonized regionally while giving consideration to unique qualities of our Federation. In the future of course, other Acts that will receive similar treatment include the Dog Licensing and Control Act and the Pound Act.”
The agriculture minister said that laws for the good governance and conduct of the sector must be relevant and enforceable if it is agreed upon that agriculture is important to a nation’s savings, important for generating foreign exchange, important for creating livelihood opportunities, especially in rural areas, and important as a contributor to food and nutrition security.
He stated that 2016 is an extremely important year as the ministry is working diligently to get every farmer registered under a fee structure that is friendly. Those registered and following the law will be able to access concessions. It also helps to reduce the current practice of some farmers who buy from the Department of Agriculture and resell items at exorbitant prices.
Under the new rate structure any farmer crop or livestock with five or less acres pay a flat fee of EC$150.00, with the maximum annual fee of EC$500 paid by farmers owning 20 or more acres.
The symposium was one in a series of workshops. Several others will take place in the near future.
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