THE Government of Saint Lucia’s focus for the new meat processing facility is sustainability. So said Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Production, Cooperatives and Rural Development, Moses Jn. Baptiste this week as he announced that work on the plant was nearing completion.
The plant is located at Beausejour Vieux Fort was financed by the Taiwanese government.
Jn Baptiste said government was concerned about the management of the facility. He added: “We do not want this facility to be a white elephant and we are going to ensure that we speak to the experts, and people with the relevant experience so that when we open the meat processing facility, it will have a management structure and a management arrangement that will ensure its sustainability.”
In addition, Jn. Baptiste said the Ministry of Finance was studying a report prepared by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), that will help safeguard the facility’s effective and efficient management.
“So we are almost at the point where we will switch on the saws and switch on the machines and I am very happy about this,” Jn. Baptiste said. “It took some doing but I am very happy that we were able to pull it off.”
The minister added that meetings have been held with the country’s meat producers to allay concerns, and provide updates on the progress of the meat processing facility.