by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—In continued strides toward reducing its $198 million food import bill, St. Kitts and Nevis, through many initiatives, continues to bolster the Agriculture and Fisheries industries.
Agriculture Minister Hon. Samal Duggins discussed one initiative during an interview with I’m Making It Happen host Nykole Tyson, highlighting its potential to carve an export niche for local farmers.
“The Prime Minister and I had a ceremony, and we planted the first set of seeds for that project. And we are looking forward to yielding the fruits of that project and being able to set up a steady and secured export market for hot peppers to the Tabasco company going forward. So yes, as we call it, that’s a hot topic right now.” Duggins stated.
The project, part of the Federation’s “emergency plan” to meet CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 target, aims to offset $50 million in annual imports by prioritising 15 key crops, including tomatoes, onions, and pineapples.
The urgency stems from St. Kitts joining the regional initiative two years late in 2022, compelling rapid mobilisation. Over 150,000 pineapple slips, drip irrigation systems, and climate-resilient farming training have been distributed to 500+ farmers.
“Part of all of that wasn’t just the practical side. It was the back-end training as well. So, for every crop that we identified, we did a whole session of training along the entire value chain. So, from land preparation, what’s the best process? What type of seeds do you grow what time of year? Based on drought resilience heat tolerance, what varieties do you select when? What’s the best practice for production? Pest management, disease management, how best to harvest, post-harvest management, agro-processing, sales and marketing. We went all the way through the entire value chain and did training with all the farmers because they were all invited. So, who came, we were able to impart that knowledge. But also we did that for every single identified crop. And farmers were able to sign up for the crop of choice. So some farmers signed up and said, I prefer growing tomatoes. I prefer growing melons. I prefer growing bananas. And for every identified crop, we trained the farmers of interest,” Duggins explained.
There has also been a $15 million revenue spike in fisheries—a sector record.
“Imagine empowering that family to earn their portion of that $50 million. And we’re seeing a great deal of success. It was our fishing sector last year earned the highest revenue ever in the history of St. Vincent-Nevis. $15 million. To sell everything in St. Vincent-Nevis, our fisher folk walked away with $15 million last year.”
With 2025 as the finish line, the ministry is betting on transforming agriculture’s stigma as “menial labour” into a wealth-building enterprise.
“What does it look like empowering our local farming community to earn $50 million? You understand that economic development. And then when we look at it even deeper, who are traditionally our farmers? It is that family from the rural community that traditionally, if you look at the optics, that grew up in a wooden house and somewhere within what we would call the bush because they’re surrounded by agriculture.” Agriculture Minister Hon. Samal Duggins.
