CHARLESTOWN NEVIS, (October 19, 2006) -- Minister of Agriculture in Nevis the Hon. Robelto Hector his
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| Agriculture Minister Hon. Robelto Hector (white shirt and cap) and other senior members of the Ministry of Agriculture meeting with labourers at a government owned farm at New River Estate. |
threw solid support behind farmers and said the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) was committed to the development of farmers and agriculture on the island.
The Minister made the comment on Wednesday October 18, 2006, during an interview with the Government Information Service which came at the end of an island wide field visit to a number of government and privately owned farms.
Indeed there were high points and there were low points. High points in that, I saw the continued commitment of the Department, the Extension Officers and farmers moving in the right direction. Low points in that, the Government Stock Farms, sad to say, were the worse. Indeed there is an opportunity for us to move forward and to make things better.
We [NIA] would like to once again, make farmers more involved in production on the island. The Nevis Island Administration is committed to the development of agriculture, to the development of our farmers and to the development of our ministry. I want to wish all the farmers well and I want to echo the support and commitment of the Administration toward farmer development and agricultural development in this lovely island, he said.
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| (L-R) An Extension Officer, Dr. Kelvin Daly, Mr. Pearl Ivan Wilkin and Hon. Robelto Hector take a closer look at a pepper plot. |
Mr. Pearlivan Wilkin, Permanent Secretary who was also a part of the touring team, explained that the idea of the field visit was to get personal information as to what the farmers were involved in, to see what concerns they had, to access their strengths and to look at their weaknesses.
According to Mr. Wilkin, from the Ministrys point of view, he had seen some areas which needed investment to assist the farmers and also the need for the provision of more services to farmers from the Department of Agricultures Extension Officers.
Notwithstanding, he described the tour as a good one.
Generally I think it was a good tour, I have seen some potential in the area of citrus growing as far as Elliots farm is concerned. I have seen a banana plantation at Potworks which is done by Dore and also the Hydroponics done at Cades Bay. Generally I think it was a very god trip, Mr Wilkin said.
Meantime, Dr. Kelvin Daly Director of Agriculture in the Department of Agriculture gave his impressions of the field trip and pointed to the neglect he had observed on the government owned farms but expressed the hope that agriculture would get better on Nevis.
We saw a number of farms and as expected, the government farms were the worst off. We really got to see first~~Adz:Right~~ hand how the farms are being neglected. It is going to take a lot to bring them back but the Minister is committed, the Permanent Secretary is committed and the Extension staff is committed and we will bring the farms back to their former glory and pride in this country.
The tour today really opened our eyes to get out of the office and see first hand the problems that the farmers are facing and the problems in livestock industry but we will get a handle on it and we will solve the problem. Once there is a Ministry that is committed and is able to get out there and see first hand, I think we can get real growth in the market and real growth in production in the near future, he said, as he urged the farmers to stick with the Department.
