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FAO Lends Support in Zoning Agricultural Lands in OECS
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FAO Lends Support in Zoning Agricultural Lands in OECS
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Friday, February 16, 2001 - Ministries of Agriculture within the Organisation Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have been collaborating with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in devising a mechanism to optimise agricultural land use in the sub-region. This comes on the heels of regional banana farmers having to make critical changes in farm practices, in order to remain competitive. At a two-day regional meeting in St. Lucia this week to discuss a Planning and Agricultural Production Zoning Project, Permanent Secretary in St. Lucia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Dr. James Fletcher, told that the age-old system of indiscriminate banana cultivation must come to an end if the agricultural sector in the OECS is to be re-positioned. "As we seek to re-engineer the banana industry in St. Lucia, we are very cognisant of the fact that for the banana industry to be viable, production must be confined only to those areas and lands that are optimally suited for banana production. This means that the days of farming on steep slopes and in areas with little access to water for irrigation must be behind us. In these present days of fierce market competition such production patterns are no longer commercially feasible," said Dr. Fletcher. The Planning and Agricultural Production Zoning Project expects to allow the OECS to make the best possible use of the limited available agricultural land. Dr. Fletcher St. Lucia has developed a five-year agricultural diversification strategy that seeks to point the way forward for the diversification of the sector. That strategy, it is hoped, will be implemented in other OECS territories. |
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