Non-sugarcane agriculture is relatively new to St. Kitts, and this may be to the island’s advantage, according to the Chief Coordinator of the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN).
[S]aid 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.
CaFAN was formed in 2004, and is:
a regional network of Farmers’ Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the Caribbean. CaFAN’s major focus is to foster linkages, training and information sharing amongst Caribbean farmers so that they are in a better position to respond to the key challenges facing the agricultural sector in the Caribbean.
[Photo: Jim]
