St. Kitts – Nevis Land Distribution Committee
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
February 05, 2009 (CUOPM)
The St. Kitts – Nevis Labour Party Government continues its policy to empower local entrepreneurs through agriculture when the Land Distribution Committee meets on Friday to distribute more land to small farmers.
Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas disclosed on Wednesday that some 350 acres of land has been leased or rented for agricultural development between 2005 and 2008.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, represented by the Director of Agriculture and the Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry, along with the Minister of Agriculture will sit with that committee and indentify all the applications that have been submitted, the investigations that have been carried out and then request the approval of the committee to allocate land for small farmers,” said Prime Minister Douglas at Wednesday’s Press Conference.
With the growth in the tourism industry, the high cost of imported food and the availability of fertile land, the Cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Douglas approved the expansion of businesses by leasing 40 acres for agricultural land for crop and livestock farming to small local farmers in the Estridge, Mansion and Phillips areas. Thirty acres were also distributed to farmers in Old Road.
Dr. Douglas said that the Committee met last week Friday, and the week before to deal specifically with the distribution of land for housing purposes.
“So that the Minister of Housing, the Senior Assistant Secretary in that Ministry, together with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing would have sat with the core committee from the Ministry of Sustainable Development and then they make a request for lands for the various housing programmes that the government is pursuing,” said Dr. Douglas.
The CEO of the National Housing Corporation attended that meeting which met to identify land to allocate the required house lots for the construction of affordable homes under the 500-home programme.
The Land Distribution Committee is a multi-agency committee that brings membership from the various ministries and departments. Central to this committee are the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, the Director of Land and Surveys, the Minister of Sustainable Development and the Prime Minister.
“I will continue to meet with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development and the Director of Lands and Surveys to continue to respond to the request for land to be allocated to the Special Land Distribution Imitative based on the applications received and also request for land for overall commercial and other major developments taking place in the country since those applications would come specifically to the Ministry of Sustainable Development,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
