Grenada to step up in fresh produce supply for southern Caribbean
As a result of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ inability to deliver fresh produce due to the ongoing La Soufriere volcano eruption, its neighbor Grenada is in its initial stage of implementing a strategy that could make them a major supplier in their region.
The eruption that has been active since April 9 is expected to create a food shortage in the southern Caribbean. Grenada’s Agriculture Minister Peter David explains that the country is positioning itself in a way that will reduce the impact of the eventual fallout.
After a recent Cabinet meeting, David told reporters about the serious long-term impact on St. Vincent and food availability in the southern Caribbean.
“Food security is an important issue for us, and St. Vincent has been, in a sense, a major producer and supplier of many agricultural products including livestock,” he stated.
Also admitting that the disruption in crop production and pending food shortages has been a factor prior to the volcano’s eruption the Agriculture Minister further warns the risk of increased prices, shortages and having a negative impact on the food situation in the southern Caribbean.
“The situation was already there before the volcano eruption, with our food import bill already very high,” David said.
He later notes to reporters that the plan by Grenada’s government is to increase food production through the investment and revival of state-owned estates, while simultaneously encouraging farmers in the private sector.
With St. Vincent and the Grenadines well known for its mass production of roots crops which as tannia, sweet potatoes and dasheen, the Agriculture Minister states that they have already looked at several government estates to determine what Grenada is going to produce but before that the country must first figure out what the overall market demands.
The Marketing and National Importing Board (MNIB) recently shared that the island nations of Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago made inquiries about the acquisition of fresh produce given La Soufriere’s eruption.