Agriculture sector faces slow progress, Premier admits
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has admitted that the agricultural sector has been progressing slowly, despite several government initiatives to revitalise the industry.
Dr Wheatley acknowledged the challenges during a recent JTV interview, saying, “I would agree with you, it has been slow and I’m not pleased about it. So I’m hopeful now that things are like the wheels have started to turn that we can gain some momentum and move forward with pace.”
The Premier noted that steps have been taken to advance the sector.
“We’ve gotten to breathe some life into agriculture in recent times. So we are moving to break ground on a reservoir that’s going into the hill in Paraquita Bay. We’ve also contracted a company to be able to complete the designs for the agriculture and fisheries complex,” he explained.
Efforts also include a grant programme for farmers, training initiatives through the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and allocating lands in Anegada and Virgin Gorda for agricultural development. “We have a grant program. We have training through the OECS. We’ve allocated lands, we’re surveying those lands in Anegada and Virgin Gorda. So things are happening in the agriculture and fisheries space,” Dr Wheatley stressed.
However, he insisted that while progress is being made, it is not enough given the current global climate. “My exact message is recognise the urgency of this moment. We have tariffs and trade wars between the United States and Canada and China and Mexico and different countries and you know, food could get more expensive,” Dr Wheatley said.
He added that the government is taking proactive steps to ensure food security in the territory. “We should be travelling to the Dominican Republic soon to be able to cement an agreement that will give us food security. But we on the ground here have to do our part as well.”
Dr Wheatley emphasised the need for collective effort to accelerate the sector’s progress. “We need all hands on deck. We need everybody to recognise the urgency of the moment and we’ve given them a clear vision as a government, technical staff, farmers, fishers and it’s for all of us to be able to coalesce around the vision and make it a reality.”
He underscored that addressing the agricultural sector’s challenges is critical in reducing the territory’s dependency on external food sources and enhancing self-sustainability. “We recognise the urgency of getting things done. Nobody is more frustrated than I am when things take long to happen,” Dr Wheatley asserted.
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The prices at the agricultural fair last week were ludicrous. I would
Like to support local agriculture but not at those ridiculous prices.
Prices of local produce are unlikely to fall unless heavily subsidized by government. We don’t have enough farm land to produce at a high enough level to achieve an economy of scale. What ideas does the government have to achieve lower prices?
You have to wonder how much thought goes into a statement that says that agricultural lands will be designated in Anegada, which consists of coral, limestone and sand around a salt pond.
Agriculture faces slow progress in the BVIs because
1. There’s no money to be made. Small scale operations are proportionally more expensive than large operations, resulting in high cost of goods-See Rubber Duck’s comment.
2. There’s no interest. It’s hard work, and it takes continuous attention and patience to raise crops, and you could lose everything in one bad weather event. There’s no app for that (other than perhapos one that warns of impending bad weather, but that won’t necessarily save your crop)
You can say the same things about fisheries, besides the fact that there’s about 10% of the fish stocks the world had 50 years ago.
If you want ag, teach it in the schools. Have each class grow food, and teach them how to prepare it. The latter in itself a problem because it’s easier to open a bag of jar or can of whatever. Arguing that local ag will keep the price of food down is a syllogism. The price of imported food will no doubt go up, but what is the incentive for a share cropper to sell it cheaper? See 1 above and again, refer to Rubber Duck’s comments.
You have NOT allocated any lands on Anegada. All your administration has done is erected a sign at the entrance of the proposed site. This was done several years ago. You have been doing a lot of Talking, nothing else.
Does this man does be on some serious weed?
Ask Omar to dig in his pocket and give us the Greenhouses we paid for and were never used. (Darn too late.) …
Time Premier for a new Ministry ‘The Ministry of Vegetables & Fertilizer’ Government of the Virgin Islands!
The government portfolio has been hampering the agriculture sector, our good premier first went and hired his campaign buddy and placed him in charge of a dying department knowing fully well he had no management skills,kudos to human resources department for letting it slide,while they continue victimizing other hard working members of 5he system.They are all playing games, for if they weren’t tell me why is it that the director of agriculture and Fisheries during a major event was given pomission to attend a work shop when he could have nominated another member of staff to attend. Hopefully the premier has the balls to reprimand his permanent secretary, the duty governor aunt for allowing the director to go on that trip(The circle of friends),this is a major part of our country’s problem right here.Since the 2017 hurricane and covid-19 pandemic all the premier has been doing is talk,talk and talk. Reality check we haven’t had a Government that gave a shot a out agriculture since the early eighties maybe nineties, but it’s still being used as a campaign line every four years.The massage hear is simple :Stop Allowing Ourselves To Be Fooled By Eloquently Speaking Government)
All this government has accomplished is more of the same. What is the 1 year or 3-year plan? has anybody ever heard of any plan?