On Wednesday 11th December, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Transformation, Forestry, Fisheries and Industry met with members of the media as he conducted his last press briefing for the year 2014.
Minister Caesar outlined four (4) major issues within his Ministry including an update on bananas, the UK Export Project - primarily squash, milk production in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and administrative changes within the Ministry over the last three (3) weeks.
Minister Caesar announced that Mr. Ashley Cain has been appointed as the Acting Chief of Agriculture following the retirement of Mr. Leslie Grant in October. Mr. Cain began his tenure at the Ministry of Agriculture in January 1985 as an Agricultural Officer. Since then he has served in a number of capacities including head of the Extension Services, point person for the Caribbean Agricultural project in the mid to late 80’s, Deputy Chief of Agriculture, Agriculture Diversification Officer, General Manager and Operations Manager for the Banana Growers Association. Mr. Cain also holds a Masters in Agricultural Economics from Australia.
Additionally, two months after planting out their first batch of Butternut Squash, a number of farmers are already beginning to reap the fruits of their labour.
Minister Caesar outlined that the UK Export Project, a collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and
Winfresh, is taking its form as farmers begin to reap their crops. He added that butternut squash was the first of the five commodities to be planted out followed by hot peppers. The other commodities include yams, sweet potatoes and ginger.
Meanwhile, May 2015 has been earmarked as the target date for the recommencement of shipping bananas to the UK Market. Minister Caesar revealed that through Winfresh, farmers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines can look forward to accessing the market after a three (3) year lapse.
