CATEGORY:AGRICULTURE
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By Trevor Thwaites (St. George's correspondent)

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada: Agriculture officials have reported that the sector is on the rebound following the destruction caused by Hurricanes Ivan and Emily. News of the revival has come from Agriculture Minister Gregory Bowen at a press conference last Tuesday in St George’s. He said that Agriculture Emergency Rehabilitation Programme has borne healthy fruits. Some $15 million were spent on the initiative.

“Crops are on the rebound. We have bananas and food crops. The Cry out there from the farmers is sale,” the minister told the media. He said that they have been working to secure markets for the abundance of local produce from regional countries including Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. After importing bananas from neighbouring St Vincent and the Grenadines following Hurricanes Ivan and Emily, the country is now making substantial exports to Trinidad and Tobago.

“We are happy to report that we have secured markets for at least 8,000 boxers per week. It is expected that we will be able to send to Trinidad on a weekly basis up to 70,000lbs of bananas.” Bowen said that the response to the supplies from Trinidad and Tobago is very encouraging and that efforts are being made to sustain high quality exports. Government on last Thursday began the sale of banana plants at the Maran Propagating Station. Over 2,000 plants will be made available to farmers during the remainder the year
to further boost production.

The minister indicated that an initiative dubbed the Agriculture Enterprise Development Programme has also been implemented to aid in the revival of the industry. Eleven million dollars have been set aside for the programme, which provides soft loans for farmers to boost their enterprises. As much as EC$ 40,000 can be accessed by farmers for development projects. However, a major problem of land ownership is slowing down the process. Only 20 of the 250 farmers interviewed for loans have so far been successful.


The agriculture minister said that land tenure has been an inhibiting factor.
“They would have passed with the plans and proposals, but lease or documents of ownership are not forthcoming. This is a very serious problem with respect to financing for farmers in our country,” Bowen pointed out. The Fishing Industry has also been revived due largely to support from the Food Agriculture Industry (FAO), which provided assistance to 120 fishermen to repair or replace their boats and equipment that were destroyed by the Hurricane Ivan.

Over, 4,000 people are said to have been the beneficiaries of the FAO assistance, which provided assistance for the poultry, fisheries, Agri, Forestry, 4-H, Flowers and rabbit sectors from the US$2.5 million Emergency Relief Programme, which concluded at the end of June. Bowen said that a fishing fund of one million dollars has also been set up for fishing activities. “I encourage everyone in the sector to really make use of this,” he remarked.



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