Soil Management Workshop Underway

(ZIZ News) Representatives from the Agriculture Department are discussing strategies to preserve the soil in the Federation during a week-long workshop on soil management.

Oswald Browne, Project Coordinator noted the importance of understanding the different soil types in St. Kitts and Nevis and how those differences impact agriculture…for example, onion crops.

“In St. Kitts, you see, the onion crop with its very shallow root, the root of the onion is maybe an inch or less…it doesn’t go down to get water. And so when we plant onion St. Kitts in this light sandy soil, and even when we irrigate, sometimes the water doesn’t spread the water goes down, away from the root of the onion crop. In Nevis, the water spreads and stays at the top. The clay soil holds it at the top,” he said.

He also addressed several challenges that were specific to soil in St. Kitts.

“The loss of vegetative cover in St. Kitts, especially since the sugar industry closed. The sugar cane used to provide some cover for the land. Now we don’t have that cover. So rain falls, the water doesn’t percolate in the soil…you have a lot of runoff and we lose a lot of our soil,” he said.

The workshop was organized in collaboration with the government of Brazil and is being held at the Department of Agriculture’s Conference Room.