BASSETERRE St. Kitts, April 8th 2011 - General Secretary of the Youth Arm of the People's Action Movement the PAMITES, Ms Latoya Bussue was one of 7 youth presenters at the 46th Annual convention of the opposition party. Ms Bussue gave an exilerating and though provoking presentation on Agriculture. She began her presentation with a quote by The 18th century English poet, critic and writer Samuel Johnson who summarized the role of agriculture as “Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own” She quickly pointed out that “Our salvation lies not in light manufacturing, offshore finances, not even tourism but agriculture, the question then is why agriculture is so lowly placed on our developmental agenda.
Ms Bussue reminded the audience of the recent call by Government for agriculture to assume a major role in the economic development of the Federation. She highlighted the challenge of a common belief that our productive sector, especially our young people, are not interested in agriculture because it is laborious, financially unrewarding and socially degrading.
The positive contribution of the sector was then outlined “ During the 1970’s, sugar was still king, and Agriculture’s contribution to GDP easily reached 20%. The sector employed over five thousand (5,000) low skilled workers and kept our soils fertile from year to year.
The failure of the present government and the role of the first Prime minister was then outlined. “ Unfortunately the labour party of the day failed to see agriculture for its worth and the image of this noble profession was tarnished. Ladies and gentlemen, It took the astute leadership of DOCTOR the RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds our first Prime Minister, to revolutionize agriculture. The PAM introduced modern farming that showed greater productivity and prosperity. I recall leafing through PAM’s manifestos and learning how feeder roads were built at Wingfield, Fahies and Saddlers to assist farers.
The story goes on that a PAM lead administration created the St. Kitts Nevis a Development Bank through which farmers were able to access credit. We began exporting to Grenada, St. Maarten and further a field. The wheels were set in motion for us to be the bread basket of the Eastern Caribbean. Our hopes, dreams and aspirations of feeding ourselves and or neighbours seemed a reality then.
The youth made a her comparison with the present day Administration: “ However, the misleaders of the day plundered the treasury, put agriculture on the back burner and all our eggs went into cruise tourism basket. Today we have moved from a sugar mono culture to a tourism monoculture, still no diversification and no food security for a people that is vulnerable to natural disasters like hurricanes and droughts. Our policy makers remain ignorant of the fact that “there can be no civilization without agriculture”.
The many supporters and listeners worldwide were reminded of the high import bill and the change in status from an exporter to net importer of food. :- “Last year (2010) our food input bill stood at a mind boggling Ninety (90) Million East Caribbean dollars and each year it is growing. Needless to say we are net importers of food although we are blessed with fertile soil and reliable rain fall.
Whereas in the 1980’s we shipped to Dominica now we have become one of their major markets because our lands are diverted away from meaningful agriculture to the hands of foreign speculators.
It is a headache to get land for farming; and may I remind you that land alone will not bring success – The availability of water for irrigation, strategies to combat praedial larceny, pest and disease control, and marketing are other important factors”.
In closing Ms Bussue made the following suggestions for success
- Need for foreign exchange savings through reduction of our mammoth food import bill.
- Utilization of new methodologies like shade house technology and efficient water and land use, to produce in abundance.
- Agriculture must be able to empower the farmers where they can use their land as collateral to build a business, a home, or educate their children.
- Find creative ways to attract young talented entrepreneurs into agriculture as a viable business, where they can take advantage of the latest available technology and market intelligence.
She brought the curtains down by looking at the harsh reality asking for action.
“Finally, let us face reality, world prices for basic food is high and rising. The world population is growing fast including here in our Federation so it is unwise to look externally for our security. We have the basic resources of fertile soil, water and intelligent people. Let us remove negative stigmas, dysfunctional Government and get to the job of nation building.
Ladies and gentlemen in closing I must remind you the time for action is now. Don’t just grow old grow food.
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