By Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Monday 8th May 2023)- A petting zoo area which saw for the first time a snake (small garden one) and large parrots being featured among the other animals added to the exciting outing at the two-day 2023 Agriculture Open Day which attracted scores of children and adults alike over the period Thursday 27th and Friday 28th April at the Royal Basseterre Valley National Park.
This reporter had a chit-chat with the Head of the Media and Communications Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture, Chaira Flanders, on the second day of the event. She gave details about what went into the planning and preparation this time around and also gave insight into what can be expected at next year’s event
which promises to be “even better.” Additionally, she applauded the various vendors for their innovative ways of doing business using technology. See full interview below: REPORTER: What was the vision going into the preparation for this year’sAgriculture Open Day?
FLANDERS: So first off, the 2023 staging of the Agriculture Open Day had to be bigger and better. We really wanted to ensure that the new location, the designated location for the – LOCAL NEWS – 7 Agriculture Open Day this year, was one to remember, and trust and believe me when I tell you the preparation, the hard work, the dedication, you can see it when you come to the grounds.
We really wanted to make sure that we stuck with the theme as well, which is ‘Achieving Food Security Through Sustainable Development and Innovation’ and that is exactly what you would find at the Agriculture Open Day. You’ll see the various vendors with innovative ways of how they do business.
One of the things that really stuck out to me was the fact that the majority of the vendors now they’re using National Bank’s MoBanking app to do their business. And so, we’re seeing the incorporation of technology is not just in farming, but also in vending.
And that is something that we want to encourage. This year, we had an additional number of animals just like we had with the raffle. So, you’ll see the exotic birds, the parrots. We also have hamsters and we didn’t really have hamsters last year.
We have the introduction of snakes, and we have parrots as well, really large parrots. So, we’re just trying to see how much we can add to the Agriculture Open Day. We want children to be excited and adults as well. So, we’re going to continue adding as much as we can and really trying to collaborate with the agricultural stakeholders as well as small businesses on the island of St.
Kitts as well as on Nevis to make sure that the Agriculture Open Day is a fair that continues to grow and improve. REPORTER: Is this the designated host venue going forward?
get persons’ interest to grow in agriculture, the better we are going to perform. It is going to actually put us in a better position to become a sustainable island state. So, honestly, I feel like the buzz that other ministries have been getting over the years, agriculture is now getting that buzz and that is extremely important.
REPORTER: What will happen next year for the event? FLANDERS: Listen, we had so many things added to the list of activities and the games and the entertainment this year. I don’t know how we’re going to top this but trust and believe me, we have a dedicated team and our dedicated team is going to continuously work hard to find new ways to better improve the Agriculture Open Day.
So, look forward to an even better staging in 2024.
