St. Kitts – Nevis Reports Increase In Food Production

Tomatoe Farm In St. Kitts Nevis
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
June 12, 2008 (CUOPM)

The Ministry of Agriculture in St. Kitts is reporting increased production in agricultural output for both food crops and livestock last year compared to the previous year.

“2007 was a good one for food crop production bringing significant yields to most crops when compared to 2006,” said Acting Director of Agriculture, Mr. Ashton Stanley.

Mr. Stanley said the contribution of the former workers who were allocated acres of lands to farm following the closure of the sugar industry in 2005 has had a direct impact on the increased production achieved.

He reported a marked increase in the production of cabbage from 54,000 kilos in 2006 to 81,000 kilos in 2007. Carrot increased from 71,000 kilos in 2006 to 80,000 kilos in 2007; Onion increased from 19,000 kilos in 2006 to 22,000 kilos in 2007; Sweet Pepper went up from 30,000 kilos the previous year to 32,000 kilos in 2007; Tomato production increased from 132,000 kilos in 2006 to 141,000 kilos in 2007; White Potato up from 110,000 kilos in 2006 to 126,000 kilos in 2007; peanut up from 56,000 kilos in 2006 to 86,000 kilos in 2007; pineapple up from 53,000 kilos in 2006 to 60,000 kilos in 2007 and yam from 14,000 kilos in 2006 to 15,000 kilos in 2007.

A Commercial Peanut Farm

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
June 4, 2008 (SKNIS)

The Department of Agriculture has placed peanut production back on the front burner, with timely research assistance from the Taiwan Technical Mission.

The Republic of China Ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis His Excellency Rong-chuan Wu said that the Technical Mission was conducting research on eight high-yield varieties of peanuts. At the time, the Ambassador was commenting at the start of a field tour of the Taiwanese Technical Mission demonstration farm at Needsmust. Farmers and media personnel were provided a full tour of the facility to see first-hand the range of research projects being undertaken.

Ambassador Wu expressed confidence that a high yield variety would be very profitable for farmers. Indicating that in a diversified economy, agriculture is still important in terms of food sustainability and food substitution, He said the Technical Mission agriculture research facility was committed to the assistance in the nation’s diversification of its agriculture in the pursuit of food sustainability in St. Kitts and Nevis, as the country addresses trade imbalances.

Ambassador Wu commented that it was possible to achieve higher production levels. “We have fertile land. We have people. We can grow everything here”¦Our intention is to collaborate with the St. Kitts and Nevis Government and people to improve agricultural production to enable the option of import substitution. Our idea is to help utilize the total area of agricultural lands in a way that attracts ambitious young farmers to do business on a full-time basis, as the sector works towards self-sufficiency and export opportunities.”

Nevis Agricultural Minister (center) Inspects Cotton

Charlestown, Nevis
May 19, 2008

Minister of Agriculture in the Nevis Island Administration Hon. Robelto Hector expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Department of Agriculture on Nevis for its successful revival of cotton production after a four year absence. The crop he said was one filled with export potential for the island.

The Minister made the comment on May 19, 2008, while he toured the Sea Island Cotton ginning operations at the New River Ginnery. He was accompanied by Director of Agriculture on Nevis Dr. Kelvin Daly and Small Farm Equipment Pool Manager Mr. John Parris, overseer of the ginning operations.

“I am extremely happy with the performance of the Department in realising a cotton crop this year. As I have said, we must export something and truly we are seeing once again the revival of an export crop which can generate foreign exchange for this country.

“As a government we are committed. I want to take this opportunity to thank the Director, the Ministry of Agriculture and the farmers who participated in making this crop a success,” he said.

Dr. Daly explained that the cotton was being prepared for export sometime during the summer months and explained that the crop was a successful one when considered that they were out of production for four years and the Department began the project from scratch in 2007.

Despite the success of the crop, he pointed to a number of challenges which had been encountered along the way.

Sea Cotton From The Island Of Nevis

Charlestown, Nevis
May 15, 2008

The final push towards the first export of Sea Island Cotton from Nevis to Japan commenced on May 13, 2008, when the New River Ginnery cranked into motion after a four-year suspension, to gin 22,000 pounds of raw cotton.

The Department of Agriculture had taken a decision in 2007, to reintroduce the cotton crop following growing interests and high prices offered by Japanese importers.

Small Farm Equipment Pool Manager Mr. John Parris who had been involved in cotton ginning operations since 1979 said in an interview during the Department’s Eye on Agriculture NTV Channel 8 programme, that it took some doing to get the equipment ready for processing the first crop, since they had not been in operation for some time.

“First we had to order a set of parts from the United Kingdom because the machines are up to 70 years old and we had to go directly to a parts company. So we acquired the necessary parts and also the bailing material because once you process the cotton, you have to do bailing for the finished product and over the last two three weeks, I worked on reinstalling the machines.

“The Small Farm Equipment workers we came over and refurbished all the machines because they were out of service for over four years. We have three out of four running. The reason why the fourth is not working is because we have to make up a conveyer to feed into the knives so maybe over the next year or so we will get that going as well,” he explained.

Nevis Pigs Bring Home The Bacon

Sorry for that, but I just could not resist that…too much coffee I fear :)

Island of Nevis Bans Pork Imports

Charlestown, Nevis
May 14, 2008

A top official in the Department of Agriculture on Nevis said, that at present, the island was enjoying self sufficiency in the area of pork production and a ban had been placed on importation.

In a recent interview with the Department of Information, Director of Agriculture on Nevis Dr. Kelvin Daly said that farmers were enjoying the benefits from the ban and had begun to see returns on their investments.

“We have a ban in place right now on pork so all our local pork is on the market and the farmers are very happy about that for the first time in decades anybody has banned pork. We [Department of Agriculture] felt it was time because when we did the analysis of the pork characteristics, it is very lean, very clean, very up to speed and better than any thing you can import.

“So we felt it was about time that we had sufficient quality meat on the market to put a ban in place and it has worked wonderfully the vendors are not complaining, the farmers are very happy that they are getting their animals sold because as you realise, the feed prices are quite high and again the government here has subsidised feed prices substantially,” he said.

St. Kitts – Nevis Reports Increase In Food Production

Peanut Farming Gets An Economic Boost From Taiwan

Nevis Agriculture Minister Happy About Sea Cotton Crop

Island Of Nevis To Begin Sea Cotton Harvest

Island of Nevis Bans Pork Imports

Island of Nevis Bans Pork Imports