With abundant lands and a significant pool of human resources, St. Kitts and Nevis has what it takes to create a robust and sustainable agricultural sector, said Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew.
Speaking recently, the honourable Prime Minister said the creation of a robust agricultural sector is one of the immediate goals of his administration, as the Government looks to truly diversify the Federation’s economy.
Prime Minister Dr. Drew said, “We have a lot of lands; we have a lot of people on the STEP programme; why can’t we put these persons to work on farms or produce food for our people? We already have the workers; we are paying them; we have the land here in St. Kitts and Nevis and so if we have a robust agricultural sector with land and people we can start to really grow much more food. So, if we can produce fish, chicken and produce much more crops here in St. Kitts and Nevis where we can use the land wisely, I think that would set us on a path to make sure we become sustainable in terms of our food source and to become more food secure.”
In this regard, the Prime Minister commended the Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Samal Duggins, for leading the Government’s thrust of ensuring sustainable food security in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“[Minister Duggins] is actually bringing the plan forward of what is already constituted as the plan to make us more food secure. We are looking at what you call ’25 by 25’ – cutting our food bill by 25 percent by the year 2025 and we think we can be on the track for that,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said on WINNFM’s ‘Voices’ programme on November 23.
In addition to what can be done locally, Prime Minister Dr. Drew said the Government is actively pursuing investment opportunities specifically targeted towards the agricultural sector.
“In my first discussion with the Afreximbank (African Export-Import Bank), for example, was the development of a fish processing plant so that we can start producing enough fish here…as part of an industry. We have also discussed a chicken plant where we can actually produce chicken at a high enough level to really support what we need,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew added.