Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 24th, 2021 (ZIZ News) The TDC Group of Companies will be giving their support to the local farming community this weekend with the hosting of their annual Farmer’s Market on Saturday at their Home and Building Depot locations in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Marketing Assistant at TDC, Dominic Matthew explained that this activity is part of the company’s Farmer’s Appreciation Month initiative which normally takes place in March and incorporates activities and sales to show solidarity for local farmers.
“Traditionally in the month of March we normally host our Farmers Appreciation Month, it’s a two prong event where we attach a sales offering to it where we offer special incentives on agro products hoses, seeds anything that has to deal with agriculture and it’s not specific to the farming community, we also recognize now that there are changes and it has grown wider to include backyard, livestock, fishermen of course so we had broaden the scope to recognize farmers during the month by offering a 20 percent discount on those particular products, also we’ve worked with the sales representatives in that community in both St. Kitts and Nevis at both stores to go out into the field and to meet farmers and to offer advice and so forth and to interact one on one not only to bring the sales idea but to kind of strengthen the relationship we have with the farming community.”
He said this initiative has been ongoing since 2012 and on Saturday persons can expect to get a wide variety of fresh farm produce and plants at the mini marketplace that will be constructed.
“It’s where we create a mini stall in our parking lots in both St. Kitts and Nevis and we invite local farmers from across the spectrum so this time around in St. Kitts we doing plants as well so we invited an agronomist to come and sell plants and they’ll be selling their produce at both locations in St. Kitts and Nevis, we’ve been doing this since 2012. This again is another way for us to bring farmers to our store, to meet our customers and to offer the same incentives they would at a public market or at another stall or they’re own place.”
As it relates to ensuring food security, Matthew stressed the importance of partnering with local farmers.
“We’ve been doing this for quite some time like I mentioned and with the onset of Covid its now even more important that we recognize the possibilities and recognize the opportunities for us to work with the farming community as a business house to continue to provide fresh food to our local people that is secure and safe as opposed to importing products that might have pesticides, we have the guarantee that they’re produced here locally so its organically grown and fresh.”
The TDC Farmer’s Market will be held at their Home and Building Depots on Frigate Bay Road in St. Kitts and Pinney’s Industrial Estate in Nevis. It runs from 9am until 1pm.
]]>NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (January 18, 2021) – Deputy Premier Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Minister of Agriculture, Cooperatives and Fisheries in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is calling on stakeholders in the agriculture sector to keep the momentum sparked by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agro Agenda 2021 forum on January 19, 2021, at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, the Minister said the theme of the annual event “Revitalizing the passion and thrust as we ensure food and nutrition security”, is extremely timely as farmers and government alike seek to build on the gains made in the sector in response to the pandemic.
“This activity is a means of looking forward. Never before in our history, have we seen such a situation where we have had to change our whole attitude toward agriculture. In the past we had a lot of glowing talks about agriculture. It was on the lips of our people, but the action didn’t match our speech and our talk, our discourse but of course we have seen since 2020 that there is an urgency of now.
“Now is the time to plant more; now is the time to engage more; now is the time to ensure that we are providing the nutritious food that our people need, so as to ensure we are cultivating healthy communities. Now is also the time for us to ensure that we are putting ourselves in a position to eliminate any difficulties and stress that may be caused if we were to have a similar situation or a more acute situation that could develop in the future,” he said.
Hon. Jeffers pointed out that as a result of the NIA putting certain plans in place for the agriculture sector in January 2020, coupled with the COVID-19 stimulus provided to farmers and fishers in March, there had been a marked increase in food production on Nevis over the past several months, and the time had come for the island to be in a position to feed itself.
“We want to ensure that if we are able to feed ourselves for a year or more, it therefore means that we are moving to what we consider import substitution. We cannot go about our business depending on other countries to feed us anymore. We have to find our way to feed ourselves, and that is why these activities are important, to engage our stakeholders, to engage the general public, and to ensure that all of us are onboard in our effort to ensure that we are providing a strong and vibrant agricultural economy here in Nevis, and by extension the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said.
The Minister encouraged stakeholders to continue the collaborative efforts exhibited during the crisis in order to strengthen the local agricultural economy going forward, so that the island’s food import bill could continue to trend downward.
“So all of the various sectors of the agricultural economy must be working cohesively; we must be working as partners to ensure that collectively we are building an agriculture infrastructure that would provide us with the security and sustainability that we seek to achieve now and in the future…
“We have the resources, we have the tools, let us put them to good use… I want us to continue to build on those principles that we have been talking about. Let us grow what we eat and eat what we grow, and let our food be our medicine and let our medicine be our food,
he advised.
Agro Agenda 2021 provided stakeholders in the sector with data on the performance of the various areas in the sector from the previous year and outlined projections and plans for 2021.
The event saw in attendance Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis, other Cabinet Ministers from the NIA, officials from the Nevis Department of Agriculture and the federal Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, and representatives from allied agencies.
]]>
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, November 30, 2020 (MMS-SKN) — Federal Minister of Environment and Cooperatives the Hon Eric Evelyn, while observing that there has been a surge in interest in agriculture and commending the growth of cooperatives on the island of St. Kitts, he has also made an appeal for persons on St. Kitts to support the cooperatives by buying local.
Minister Evelyn made the remarks after a tour of Agro Strip 2020 which was held on Friday November 27 on Pond Road in Basseterre under the theme ‘Locally Grown, Locally Owned’.
“I am exceptionally pleased with what is taking place here on the Agro Strip today,” said the Hon Evelyn. “Of course this is something that used to happen previously but we have decided to make it much bigger this year. We know that there has been a surge and there is an increase in interest in agriculture on St. Kitts and we have a number of cooperatives here on St. Kitts and we wanted to in some way promote what they are doing.”
The Honourable Minister said he was pleased with the turnout in terms of the cooperatives that included farmers’ cooperatives, fishermen cooperatives, agro processors cooperatives, credit unions cooperatives, the St. Kitts Taxi Cooperative, and the Craft House. He observed that this year’s Agro Strip was the biggest that has been held, adding that he was over the moon that it was taking place.
“This is what we need – we need to work together,” observed the Hon Evelyn. “That is what cooperatives is all about – togetherness, and we will endeavour for the rest of 2020 and beyond for us to continue to work together. We can move mountains and I want to take this opportunity once again to thank all of you who are taking part and we want to encourage all of St. Kitts, when we have an activity of this nature come out and buy local.”
He thanked the staff of the Ministry and Department of Cooperatives led by Permanent Secretary Ms Sharon Rattan, and Registrar of Cooperatives Mr Clyde Thompson, for having done a marvellous job in putting the event together and promoting it, which he noted will be the springboard of many other such activities to come.
“I am happy as well that the Ministry of Health is here to show the link between local produce and health, because the more local produce you consume, the healthier you will be and the wealth of the nation is based on the health of the nation,” commented Minister Evelyn. “So I am happy for the collaboration today.”
Visiting Agro Strip 2020 included Premier of Nevis the Hon Mark Brantley, Resident Ambassador of the Republic of China on Taiwan, His Excellency Tom Lee, and Ambassador His Excellency Vance Amory. Reigning National Monarch Mr Sylvester Hodge, better known as King Socrates, who attended Agro Strip 2020 in his capacity as President of St. Kitts Taxi Cooperative, performed for the first time his 2020 Senior Calypso Monarch song, ‘Between a rock and a hard place’.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Cooperatives, Ms Sharon Rattan, while welcoming persons to Agro Strip 2020, admitted that it was the first time she was getting so close to people who grow food. She noted she was excited about the quality of the locally grown food and was also enjoying on site cooking taking place.
“With Covid-19, this is the way to go,” said Ms Rattan. “We have to start thinking more deeply and creatively about what we grow, how we eat because what if we can’t get it from overseas? So we are very happy to be featuring them and we are thankful for their cooperation. I am very warmed by the response as all morning – there have been persons shopping constantly especially older folks they have come out early and they have been shopping.”
Registrar of Cooperatives, Mr Clyde Thompson, advised that the Agro Strip was first started about two years ago. It was the idea of members of the various cooperatives, as they wanted an opportunity to bring cooperatives more into focus because they felt like they had something special, something unique, and something meaningful to national development but it needed to get out.
For greater exposure, they identified the area on Pond Road that is close to the road on a strip of land where people can drive by. Mr Thompson noted: “We knocked heads, came up with the idea and it started with a collaborative effort when we were part of the Ministry of Agriculture, and it was held right here thanks to the support of the Ministry of Sustainable Development, and they are pleased with how we have utilised this place.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 14, 2020 (SKNIS): Glynis Wilkes, Manager of the Basseterre and Old Road Fisheries Complexes, encouraged local fishermen from across the island to supply their fish to the relevant complexes to meet the protein needs of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“For us to supply the protein needs of our customers, bring your fish so we can sanitize it better at the Basseterre and Old Road Fisheries Complexes so that we can meet the demands of our customers,” said Ms. Wilkes on the October 14 edition of ‘Working for You.’ “We have the proper facility for this so we would rather it become ours so that we can increase the protein needs.”
Ms. Wilkes said that the Department of Marine Resources has rolled out an initiative where fishers can purchase ropes, wires and all the necessary supplies for fish at a discounted price.
She noted that as government organizations the Basseterre and Old Road Fisheries Complexes face several challenges, with the main one being the inadequate amount of fish from local fishermen to supply to customers on demand.
“We have an inability to purchase fish from fishermen on demand simply because we are dealing with a fixed budget that we need to increase,” she said. “Given the COVID-19 Pandemic, we have seen an increase in demand for fish from our customers and fisheries products as well. As a result of this, our customers have been demanding more and more fish. So, an increase in demand would only mean an increase in budget to meet the fish protein needs of our lovely citizens and St. Kitts and Nevis.”
The Department of Marine Resources aims to contribute to food security and nutrition in the Federation. The Department’s vision is “To conserve, manage, develop and sustainably use fisheries, aquaculture, and marine resources in the waters of St. Kitts and Nevis. Also, to monitor and control all fishing vessels nationally including those beyond national jurisdiction.”
]]>BASSETERRE Sept 17th, 2020 (Ministry of Tourism): The general public is advised that the Ministry of Tourism, Transportation and Ports will be mobilizing shortly to conduct a beach nourishment exercise at Frigate Bay Beach, which will require the transportation of boulders along the island main road and the use of heavy equipment on and offshore at the venue.
We therefore appeal to all concerned to be vigilant, to cooperate with all personnel and to comply with all signs and instructions posted at the venue. Fishers, other mariners, and water sports enthusiasts are also strongly discouraged from engaging in activities, including anchorage of vessels, in the dredging area or other areas immediately within the worksite.
We apologize for any inconvenience experienced during the 6 to 8-week construction period and look forward to a more spacious and better protected stretch of beach when the exercise is completed; to the benefit of all patrons, businesses at the venue and our tourism product as a whole.
Thank you for your patience and understanding in the weeks ahead.
]]>