Agriculture Minister Lisa Jawahir has made it clear that the concept of Hobby Farming is one that St. Lucians need to treat with the utmost significance.
The agriculture minister was speaking at the weekly government press briefing Monday.
She encouraged St. Lucians to take seriously the idea of “growing what you eat and eating what you grow,” an idea first forwarded by Prime Minister Philip Pierre. Jawahir was clear that the move to further promote hobby farming was in no way a replacement for the national agriculture strategy but rather part of the safety net that is required going forward. The comment comes against the backdrop of possible difficulty with supply chain routes further exacerbated by the lengthy ongoing conflict in the middle east and the Russia / Ukraine war.
The agriculture minister also explained that adverse effects were also felt because of the intense heat that the country has been experiencing recently. She went on to explain that quite apart from the possible delays in food products, it was incumbent on the citizenry to practice eating local and healthy, particularly because the country is clearly visible on the map of non-communicable diseases.
“The Hobby Farming Program, is very simply put, going to be launched in the urban areas. We want places like the CDC, Castries East, Castries Central, Castries South, Castries North, persons who are there to understand that you may not have rich fertile soil like in the Southwest of the island, like perhaps Soufriere, but you can learn how to plant sweet potato, you can learn how to plan tomatoes, in your back yard, on the rooftop in the CDC, in your balcony, in your veranda.” Even while the initiative is attracting much excitement, Jawahir indicated that there may be sceptics who may be concerned with affecting farming as a business. She clarified that that was not a possibility since the island’s farming production is only at 35%.
The agriculture minister went to reveal that concrete plans are afoot in the local industry. “The good thing is that we have a market for it {if there are any excesses}. We have the St. Lucia Marketing Board, which now has a new general manager, we’re developing the marketing board in Castries and in Odsan. You will be hearing of joint collaboration between the department of commerce and the ministry of agriculture as it relates to the future of agro-processing and the work that we will put into that.”
The agriculture minister says this is yet another opportunity for St. Lucians to get involved, while asking themselves critical questions. How am I contributing to food security? How am I going to live a healthier lifestyle? She seemingly suggested that it was an opportunity for St. Lucia to see this as a business opportunity.