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| Junior Minister of Agriculture on Nevis Hon Livingston Herbert and Ms Helen Kidd, Chief Executive Officer at the Nevis Tourism Authority. |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (December 1, 2005) -- Junior Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Cooperatives and Fisheries Hon Livingston Herbert, said his Ministry is actively engaged in linkages between agriculture and tourism and has launched an appeal to farmers on Nevis to work closely with the Department of Agriculture in that regard.
Mr Herbert's appeal came on Tuesday during an interview with the Government Information Service to give his thoughts on his Ministry's latest drive to collaborate with the tourism industry on Nevis.
"I just want to again use the opportunity to appeal to our farmers to work along with the Department of agriculture in terms of scheduling crops and producing wholesome food not only for ourselves but for Nevis and the visitors who come here. Once we can market healthy food I believe that people will always come," he said.
The Agriculture Minister said one major initiative in the collaborative effort was the recently Nevis International Culinary Heritage Exposition (NICHE) was an enlightening experience for his Ministry and they are already experiencing benefits.
The NICHE programme was worthwhile and very enlightening for us within the Ministry of Agriculture. I want to pay compliments to the Director of Agriculture Sam Powell and the Director of Fisheries Captain Arthur Anslyn. I think that they have worked tirelessly with the Nevis Tourism Authority to ensure that local produce was on the table for NICHE programme.
I was particularly touched on the last evening when there was a celebration dinner and heard the chief from Montpelier compliment the Nevis Tourism Authority and especially the farmers and the fishers in Nevis.
"What I do know is that already we are experiencing the benefit from that exercise in that the hotels have committed themselves and in some respects have started to purchase local produce. I know for example that one crop that we would have to pay attention to is asparagus that was very much appreciated but we were able to source it from St. Kitts but we intend to do something about that in Nevis," he said.
Mr Herbert also spoke of his Department's recently concluded three-day Orchid production workshop which was facilitated by a representative of the University of the West Indies. He said the use of flowers in the hospitality industry should not be underestimated and there is much potential for the creation of a niche market for flowers on Nevis.
The Minister also took the opportunity to shower praise on the Nevis Tourism Authority for their work which he said had contributed positively to the current verve in Nevis economy.
"I want to publicly compliment Miss Kidd and her staff and members of her Board. I think clearly we would agree that the establishment of the Nevis Tourism Authority has done much for the development of tourism on Nevis," Mr. Herbert said.
Meantime, Chief Executive Officer at the NTA Ms Helen Kidd said that NICHE has earned its place on the Authority's annual calendar of events and they have been approached by a major wine distributor to sponsor the event in 2006.
According to Miss Kidd, apart from attracting visitors to Nevis during a soft period of the year, NICHE was also about strengthening links between agriculture and tourism on the island.
"It was to show visitors that we really do feel strongly and passionately about strengthening links between agriculture, fisheries and tourism because only if we are seen as a sustainable destination will we be successful&I feel very strongly that we have an abundance of good crops here on Nevis and if we can work closely as we did with the farmers and fishermen, then we (Nevis) can only benefit," she said.
