by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—The Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Hon. Dr Terrance Drew, hosted a media tour on July 31, 2026, touring various initiatives across St. Kitts.
One of the stops included the government Greenhouse Village Initiative, which is a flagship agricultural project designed to reduce the nation’s $200 million annual food import bill by scaling up local, climate-resilient crop production.
During the tour, Agriculture Minister Hon. Samal Duggins expressed what the village would mean for the people of St. Kitts.
“This has been a vision put together to ensure that St. Kitts and Nevis is at the forefront of food production in the region and we have been able to put together a project that stands now today as the largest greenhouse project in the Eastern Caribbean and that was supported by the Federal Cabinet and of course our main contractor here, Mr Thompson, would have been responsible on the back end of the execution of this. Watching the vision come to life, it really is inspiring to know that ideas can manifest themselves into tangible realities. What does this really mean for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis? In doing the research and designing this, a greenhouse of this size is expected, once operated efficiently, to generate around $180,000 to $200,000 for the person per year. Having the quantum of greenhouses that we are seeing here, it means that our farmers, organising a cooperative here as a greenhouse village cooperative, should be able to generate millions of dollars for the economy of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
The aim of the project is not just to provide food security for St. Kitts and Nevis and drive local economic activity, but also to venture into exporting to neighbouring islands.
“We have heard about Mr Travis Huggins, who is now farming and exporting food across the Imagine what will happen when this cooperative structure unrolls itself, and these farmers are now able to feed all people and export the excess across the region as well. As the Minister of Agriculture, that was my commitment: to ensure that we have full security in St. Kitts and Nevis and ensure that St. Kitts and Nevis is at the forefront of regional food security as well.”
Prime Minister Drew said the expected completion date is in September of this year.
“I can say we have just appropriated another few million dollars to make sure that this is completed. We want this to be complete by September, and so we are definitely pushing for that.”
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture for St. Kitts, Randel Thompson, provided an update on the progress of the village build-out.
“We have 24 here at this point in time. There is some extra work that needs to be done. We are expecting to put in a retaining wall, and that is to help to mitigate any runoff and erosion during rainfall. We will also move forward in making sure all the greenhouses are properly covered and ready to grow. As the Honourable Minister mentioned, we will have a cooperative here to help with the management of it. We are expecting to have also storage facilities where the goods, where the produce can be stored before being transported to the unit as well, to be sent to our local stakeholders, restaurants, hotels, etc.”
Thompson gave a brief explanation of how farmers will be selected for the greenhouses.
“What we are going to do is that we will put it out for people to apply. We have already had the structured lease, a draft lease already done. We have also already touched base with the cooperative unit, who is also guiding us to have this formed when we have collected all of the applicants. From there, we will be able to judge and look at the application and decide who will be able to get the different greenhouses from here.”
Minister Duggins reiterated the economic benefit of operating the greenhouses.
“A greenhouse of this size can produce, on average, depending on the crop, about $180,000 to just over $200,000 annually. We have 24 greenhouses here, so then I guess that’s easy math to put together to understand the value of just this project alone to the food security contribution.”
Officially launched with a groundbreaking ceremony in October 2023, the project has advanced significantly and is now in its final stages of development as of mid-2026.
Mass production focuses on high-demand, vulnerable imports like leafy greens (lettuce), sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons.
“But apart from that, we also have a national planting programme, so the cooperative is there for the farmers to be guided in terms of what is to produce within the different greenhouses so that they can all contribute, and it’s not like they are competing, that everybody feels that they have to get a good chunk of the market, do tomatoes only, do this only, but the planting programme will help to guide them. And this is where the cooperative comes in to help in terms of that.”
The village is a cornerstone of the Sustainable Island State Agenda developed at the Brotherson Estate near the outskirts of Newton Ground.
The greenhouses feature modern, climate-smart agricultural infrastructure to protect crops from unpredictable weather patterns, according to Project Manager Kevin Thompson.
“It’s anticipated that if there is a hurricane warning, the shade covers should be removed and the stanchion poles are heavily anchored, so they should be very resilient because the wind will pass through them.”
The Greenhouse Village is expected to enhance year-round yields while stabilising the local food supply and insulating the island from global supply chain shocks.
Additionally, it seeks to keep millions of dollars spent on imported food within the local economy to boost farmer income and provide structured training programs, modern equipment, and technical support to youth and local farmers.
Harvested produce will be routed through the Department of Agriculture’s Marketing Unit directly to local supermarkets to lower consumer prices.
