BASSETERRE ST. KITTS (April 12, 2010) -- An official of the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) is of the view that even though St. Kitts has only recently turned into non-sugarcane agriculture, because of its farmers’ organisation and relatively young ages, the country has an advantage over its Caribbean neighbours who have been into agriculture for a long time.
“There is one thing about St. Kitts that I like,” said Jethro Greene, CaFAN’s Chief Coordinator. “Because you are new in non-sugarcane agriculture in an organised way, a lot of you are receptive to new business ideas. And because you are very receptive to new business ideas, it is easy to build new modules.”
Greene observed that it has been a challenge to introduce new modules in a country like Dominica where food agriculture has been a business for a long time. He told Kittitian farmers: “You do not have some of the bad habits that are into some of organised agriculture. You have a chance to start something new to your advantage.”
The regional official who was in St. Kitts last week where he held several meeting with stakeholders in the agriculture sector, also met with members of the St. Kitts Farmers Cooperative Society Ltd at the St. Johnson’s Community Centre where he held candid talks with them and pledged CaFAN’s support.
He told the farmers that despite the many negative things that are said about St. Kitts and farming, he had in the few days he was in the country seen strides in the agriculture sector that impressed him. He observed that farmers in St. Kitts were more organised than in many of the countries that he has visited in his line of duty.
The CaFAN official said that in many countries the sector has been “so subsidised and politicised that you cannot separate the farmers from the politicians.” From his observation he noted that in St. Kitts the farmers were standing out on their own in several areas, but gave them this advice: “I want you not to get too close to politics and politicians, but do not be too tight on them. Respect all of them and steer above politics.”
“The other thing that I think you have an advantage is that in some of the countries that we work, the farmers’ average age is 65, in some countries 60. In St. Kitts, I see an average of 45 or 47, which means you have a young working agriculture population. That is another good sign. From what I have seen, it seems as if you have a more young farming population than most of the islands.”
Greene who was introduced to the meeting by the president of the St. Kitts Farmers Cooperative Society Limited, Arabella Nisbett, told the meeting that potential is good and that opportunities are available in St. Kitts. With the several major corporations and allied agencies on the ground in St. Kitts, he implored the farmers to have a plan of action, “because we have to move from guesswork to more practical application and technology.”
According to the general secretary of the St. Kitts Farmers Cooperative Society Limited, Joseph O’Flaherty, who gave an outline of the society’s activities, it has 45 members and the number is steadily growing. The meeting was also attended by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Lloyd Lazar, director of cooperatives Antonio Wilson, an IT consultant with CaFAN, Telojo ‘Telly’ Onu, and treasurer of the Society, Deslyn Richard.
