Department of Agriculture receives financing for pest and monkey control

Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 18, 2020 (SKNIS): The Department of Agriculture has received some much-needed money to aid in its pest control measures and the ongoing monkey problem, said Director of Agriculture, Melvin James, in an interview with St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) on January 16.

Back in March of 2019, St. Kitts and Nevis launched a “Preventing the COSTS of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) in Barbados and the OECS” project, that was welcomed by the Honourable Eugene Hamilton, Minister of Agriculture, as it would assist the Federation in managing some of its more impacting invasive species such as the Green Vervet Monkey.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is continuing its fight against these invasive animals, however under a separate project.

This project, which is spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture is called the Pest Control Initiative which received seven hundred thousand dollars, allocated under the Ministry of Agriculture 2020 budget.

Director James said, “I am happy that we now have a significant sum of money having approached government and requested help with dealing with these pestiferous creatures.”

“I reported earlier that in 2018, in particular, we had collected some data and the losses that we sustained were equivalent to more or less like one month’s supply of marketable produce,” said the Director of Agriculture.

Mr. James said that “there is a study being done jointly by the Departments of Environment, Agriculture and other entities looking at the behaviour of monkeys, their preferences, their population, and so we have that data that could feed into our programme.”