PRIME Minister Allen Chastanet says he looks forward to Taiwanese help to improve production of local fruits to reduce the island’s food import bill.
Yesterday, the PM accompanied Taiwanese Ambassador to St. Lucia, Douglas Cheng-Tsung Shen and other officials of the Taiwanese Embassy on a tour of the Union Agricultural Farm.
The Taiwan Ambassador presented an overview of various projects on agriculture and ICT (Information Communications Technology) with PM Chastanet, Minister for Agriculture Ezechiel Joseph and National Security Minister Hermangild Francis.
Current issues in agriculture, such as the need to reduce the nation’s reliance on imported goods, as well as the need to develop better marketing strategies for local farmers, were broached during the presentations.
Later in the day, the PM posted the following on his Facebook Page: “Moving forward, we will be significantly increasing our efforts to reduce our food import bill with the assistance of our Taiwanese friends.
“To achieve this we will be focusing on improving the production of seven key fruits and vegetables, whilst limiting their importation.”
He promised that the government “will also be strengthening the linkages with hotels and our farmers, to help increase their market.”
