by Dominique Lescott
St Kitts and Nevis (WINN FM): Nevisian farmer Kevon Charles has turned to the land through farming as he copes with ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
WINN FM interviewed Charles as part of an in-depth series of articles, highlighting COVID-19’s impact on local businesses.
Charles is the owner of KSK Uphill Farm based in Hamilton, Nevis and told the WINN news team that the pandemic had impacted him and other small businesses by not being able to get access to finance to improve his farm.
“It had been my goal to improve my farm, improve my breed, input some higher quality animals to mix with my locals to get a better yield”. He adds, “But since Corona and the impact of Corona, have not been able to. It was my intention to borrow a small loan from the Small Enterprises Development Unit (SEDU) in Nevis, but I have not been able to do it because of financial constraints”. Charles told WINN, “I have decided to hold out until things get a little better”.
Charles, is part of a local livestock WhatsApp group chat in Nevis, where local farmers support one another and share information. He says “I wish we would come together and have some proper associations, so we can be able to access more resources to push the farming”.
SEDU is a government department that provides small and medium enterprises, with business development support including business counselling and borrowing loans at a smaller concessionary interest rate which is lower than banks.
