Increased food production vital

Government is on a mission to improve the island’s food and nutritional security.

So says Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Indar Weir, who announced that there is a programme launching soon, intended to boost the knowledge base within the farming community. He was speaking yesterday morning at the Calvary Temple Community Church at Groves, St. Philip, where he noted that food security can only be achieved through enhanced agricultural production, and this calls for an increased number of local farmers and the utilisation of new technologies in the agricultural sector.

“The Ministry will very shortly be embarking on a Farmers’ Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive, acronym FEED, Programme whereby over the next three years 2 000 farmers or potential farmers will be trained in various aspects of agriculture and will have the opportunity to lease land at a nominal fee. This initiative will include traditional open field agriculture, livestock rearing and the use of aquaponics and hydroponics in farming,” he stated.

The Minister explained that through the FEED programme, participants will also be exposed to contemporary farming in temperature controlled units, such as shade houses and retrofitted containers, using the latest technology, including mobile phone apps.

“Apart from utilising modern technologies, this form of agriculture is less labour intense. There is generally greater consistency in the supply and quality of produce, production can be achieved in areas of limited land and water resources, and there is better control of pests and diseases,” he noted.

Weir said he is partic-ularly excited about that aspect of the programme, as he sees it as a way to attract more youth into the field of agriculture, and for them to see it as a viable career path. He added that encouraging agricultural production in protected and temperature controlled structures, is expected to go a long way in reducing the negative impacts posed to the sector by climate change and praedial larceny.

With that in mind, he also revealed that in an effort to further enhance agricultural production, and to ensure there is an adequate supply of seedlings in storage for replanting in the aftermath of a natural disaster, the agronomy section in his ministry has established a germplasm bank. Through this bank, he said they are seeking to ensure there is a collection of local varieties of vegetables and herbs, particularly those that have become scarce in recent times including finger squash and garden pumpkin.

“In an effort to ultimately reduce the unacceptably high level of food imports, the Ministry is also conducting trials in the cultivation of non-traditional crops such as broccoli, turnips, kale, radishes, muskmelons, swiss chard, ginger, turmeric and herbs like mint, lavender and rosemary,” he indicated. (JRT)