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, November 12th , 2020 (ZIZ News):
By: Chaïra Flanders
Episode 1 of ZIZ’s Sugar Fix Radio Show aired live via ZIZ Radio and TV on Wednesday November 11 2020.
Carnival stakeholders including Committee members, sponsors and artists will appear on the weekly program to share live updates, announcements and all you need to know about Sugar Mas 49 celebrations throughout the Carnival season.
During the first edition, Host of the show, Clement “Monarch” Ogarro was joined by guest, Chair of the St. Kitts Nevis National Carnival Committee, Shanna Hawley.
Ogarro used the opportunity to discuss virtual Calypso tents which are set to begin this weekend.
“On November 14 at 8 p.m, the Legends Calypso tent kicks off the 2020 Sugar Mas 49 Carnival Season featuring the reigning Calypso King, King Socrates, Lady Diva, Brown Sugar, Hot Rod, Neglecta, Jack Spanner, Mighty Kinta and a host of others. Of course the show is virtual and you should be able to get the show on ZIZ Radio/TV and also live on Facebook and YouTube and also on Carnival’s Facebook and YouTube page this coming Saturday”, he revealed.
He said persons can expect the Proud Sounds Calypso Tent to be held the following weekend. Both Calypso Tents would then rotate each weekend until November 28. Thereafter, Calypso Eliminations will place on the 12-13 December.
This year, there will be no Calypso Semi-finals. This means that 16 Calypsonians will head straight into the Finals and compete with one song.
Sugar Fix airs live every Wednesday at 4:30 pm on the “Jump Off Show” with Chico.
]]>BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, October 28, 2020 (DBSKN) — Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis is once again the platinum sponsor of King Socrates’ Legends Calypso Tent whose rehearsals opened Tuesday evening October 27 at the OOJJ’s Complex in Camps.
“I want to thank the management of Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis for once again partnering with the Legends Calypso Tent where we can host a feature of a carnival, the calypso show, and competition,” said decorated calypsonian and reigning Senior Calypso King, Mr Sylvester Hodge who is better known by his stage name King Socrates.
Reflecting on Legends Calypso Tent’s relationship with the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis, the seven times National Calypso Monarch, King Socrates told the Bank’s Marketing and Product Development Officer, Ms Chantelle Rochester, that it has been the only bank that has come on board and supported Legends Calypso Tent as a platinum sponsor now for the last four years.
In presenting the sponsorship cheque of $10,000 to Mr Sylvester Hodge, Ms Rochester, informed him that the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis is cognisant of the fact that the people of St. Kitts and Nevis are proud of their culture and will go to great lengths to preserve it for future generations.
“The Board of Directors, Management and Staff at the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis recognise you as one of our great cultural icons,” noted Ms Rochester. “It is heart-warming to note that at the Legends Calypso Tent you are passing on your calypso skills of writing and performing to persons who will be competing against you for the Senior Monarch crown. The Federation cannot ask for a better cultural icon.”
At OOJJs Complex on Tuesday evening, Band Leader Mr Gavin Charles said the rehearsals will continue for the rest of the week as the calypsonians at the Legends Tent practice for the up-coming season, noting that at the tent they have over the years always felt that calypso needed to be modernised. Also present was Legends Calypso Tent’s M.C. Ms Sandra Byron, better known as Sandra B.
“This year we were given that opportunity, so we came together tonight to start getting prepared for the show that is slated for the 14th of next month,” said Mr Charles. “So we came to start gelling together, meeting the new calypsonians as we have a lot of new members. A lot of the calypsonians were introduced to us tonight and we basically started scheduling rehearsals for the rest of the week.”
One of the new calypsonians is 20-year-old Ms Nyailah Walters, who is an aspiring local R&B artiste whose music is produced by King Socrates. She explained that she decided to take part because calypso is a part of her heritage, as it speaks a lot about St. Kitts and Nevis.
“In terms of expectations I expect that it will not be an easy road to be honest – there will be some challenges,” said Ms Walters. “I will do it with an open mind, but I know I will be nervous about it especially coming closer to the whole competition, knowing that I have to compete against the legends.”
She added: “The whole other frightening part about it would be the fact that I have to go up and if I make it to the finals I will have to be competing against King Socrates. He is a whole legend by himself to be honest, and I really admire him a lot. So if I will win or lose I will accept the whole experience as a journey that I have taken to become a better person and know more about myself and my whole heritage.”
According to King Socrates, there are two calypso tents, the other being Proud Sounds, and will start on Saturday November 14. He has 17 calypsonians in his tent, and they are hoping to utilise the Carnival City where it can be better managed, and with tickets being sold ahead of time they will know who will attend. That way, if there will be a need for contact tracing thereafter it will be easy to monitor that one location.
Due to the continued threat by the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that Emergency Powers Regulations were extended from October 19 to December 31, 2020, King Socrates noted: “If there is a number set by the NEOC that this is our cut-off limit for persons attending, we will have to be governed by the protocols.”
He observed: “We will have the calypso tents, then eliminations one and two, from that they select fifteen calypsonians to go up against the reigning monarch, that happens to be myself, So we will have sixteen persons competing on that night doing one song, whereas on the final night normally we just have eight, doing two songs. So they won’t have any semi-finals, from eliminations we go straight to the finals, sixteen calypsonians doing their best to capture the monarch.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 14th , 2020 (ZIZ News): Activities to commemorate World Food Day 2020 continued on Wednesday with the official re-launch of the Bayford’s Livestock Centre of Excellence in a ceremony held at Bayford’s Estate.
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon. Alexis Jeffers explained that the re-launch of the livestock centre comes as part of the Department of Agriculture’s efforts to ensure food security and to decrease the federation’s reliance on imported meat.
“This is a dramatic and significant transformation of some 183 acres of land into a livestock centre of excellence which will directly benefit the farmers and the country as a whole. It is the start of a tremendous programme aimed at promoting food security by increasing livestock production through the implementation and modern and sustainable techniques with the view to significantly reduce the gap between imported and locally produced meat.
He added that through the Bayford’s Livestock Centre of Excellence a number of activities will take place including the establishment of breeding programmes that will “maintain and support sustainable improvement in livestock production.”
“The work here at Bayford’s Livestock Centre of Excellence would include a new abattoir with modern meat processing facilities and capabilities, a poultry slaughtering and processing facility, a rabbit slaughtering facility, swine breeding programme, cattle breeding programme, small ruminant breeding programme and…a hatchery.”
The Minister also mentioned that the first phase of work on the Bayford’s Livestock Centre is on-going and it includes the paddock rehabilitation, fencing repairs, building repairs, construction of holding areas trimming and removal of overgrown trees and garbage.
During his remarks, Prime Minister, Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris has committed to giving his support to the initiatives under the Ministry of Agriculture.
“I will try hard to give support to the projects and proposals that will come from the Ministry of Agriculture so that the lives of our farmers could be better and richer, the lives of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis can be healthier and we can in fact begin to improve upon our revenues to exporting our products to some of the neighboring islands and importing less leaving the scarce foreign reserve to do other things that are necessary.”
During the ceremony there were performances from calypso artiste King Socrates and steel pan player Melvin Hewlette.
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Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 25 , 2020 (ZIZ News):The House of Judah Musical Foundation will be celebrating the benefits of healthy eating and cultural awareness with an Organic Market event on Sunday.
The event will be held at the Royal Pearl Restaurant in Dieppe Bay and according to Ras Sankofah Maccabbee it will showcase local grown organic produce but with also feature cultural performances.
He said the proceeds would also go towards a charity initiative which assists the elderly.
He said they plan to expand the “Adopt an Elderly” programme to seven individuals and donations are accepted towards that cause.
Performances will include poetry by Jihan Williams, and renditions by King Socrates and Dejour.
The event runs from 3 to 8 pm on Sunday September 27.
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