BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - CONCERNS are being raised over the amount of food being wasted in the Federation as information from the Department of Agriculture on St. Kitts indicated that a month’s supply was dumped in 2018.
While addressing the recently held Farmers and Fishers Award Ceremony, Director of Agriculture Melvin James disclosed that the wasted produce is worth more than $500,000.
The Director noted that though food is not easy to get, a lot of it is being wasted, which is one of the major problems facing the sector in St. Kitts and Nevis.
He said many of the wasted food originate from the fields.
“We have always had issues with pests and diseases, and now we have pigs and monkeys and end up causing a lot of waste. Feral animals, particular monkeys and wild pigs, cause significant loss to food production in 2018.
“Crude estimate, the total of 200,000 pounds of food valuing some $531,000 was rendered unmarketable due to feral animals’ invasion of farms.”
Additional statistics on food wastage from 2018 showed that the Department recorded 55 incidents of monkey-damage and 11 pig-damage to farm crops from 24 farmers covering the entire island.
The issue of food wastage is connected to the growing incidents of obesity in the Federation, with the Director pointing to the increasing number of cases being recorded on St. Kitts.
Additionally, he lamented on the issue of adults and children who regularly go to bed hungry.
“And while in St. Kitts we may generally think that that is not the case, there are little pockets where there are persons who can be better off; and some may be our neighbours. And we need to be sensitive to that kind of thing.”
