The Minister responsible for Agriculture, Mr. Curtis Richardson, other personnel in his Ministry, as well as representatives of the Farmers’ Association, have come away highly impressed by the pleasing level and diversity of farming on the island.
It was found that the main areas of farming included animal husbandry (livestock and pigs), poultry and egg production, and the cultivation of cash crops (vegetables etc.). It was not possible for the touring party to visit all the farms on the island, due to time constraints. However, they plan to visit other farms in The Valley and Western areas later on.
One of the first farms visited was that of Ras Elijah’s which is situated on Crown Land in The Valley. “I think the tour is timely and I love it because it is a way for the Minister to get information and to actually see what is going on in farming,” he told media representatives who were also on the tour. “I am looking forward to seeing some action now. I think this is a way forward for agriculture in Anguilla in general. We are talking about food security, production, and other related matters, and we need to have the Ministry and the entire Administration involved in the process.
“Here on my farm, I have potatoes, yams, as well as number of fruit trees. I am getting ready to put in various cash crops including tomatoes, papayas, pumpkins, butternut squash, cabbage and just about everything. I have been on this farm from about 1980, but I have been doing farming on a whole from childhood. I am now seeing that there is a great necessity and demand for farming. By doing so we can make some money which is now scarce these days. Our elders did a lot of farming in the early days and it is no wonder that many of them lived long – some over 100 years because of healthy eating and so forth. We need everybody to get involved, and to do their own planting, instead of bawling that there is no work and no money.”
One of the farms visited at East End, was that of Mr. Quincy Gumbs and family. His daughter, Quincia, said: “We hope that those on the tour would use it to add context to their planning and to know what the Anguillian farmers need. This will help the officials not just to have an abstract policy, but something that is suited to the Anguillian climate. For example, we don’t have rivers but we need water. Because we do not have much rain, we have to do a number of different things to make sure our animals are able to survive.”
The family’s farm includes a number of specially-imported goats and local pigs. Mr. Gumbs said there was also the beginning of a duck-rearing programme there. He noted that it was too late in the year to have turkeys, but that there were plans to include them later on. The farm also has large numbers of other chickens. “All of them are mostly indigenous chickens. I know this because the indigenous chicken is very small,” he explained. “What we are doing is cross-breeding them and trying to develop an indigenous species of Anguillian chicken. So, hopefully, may be a year or two down the road, we may have our own signature indigenous chicken.”
As he led the way, he continued: “These down here are broilers. They are the broilers you buy in the supermarkets. This is our immediate programme, but we hope to phase this out in six months or so and go into dual purpose birds. The broilers take about five to six weeks [to be ready] while the dual purpose birds take about fourteen weeks [to mature]. So we are going to use the broilers until we get a good programme on the dual purpose birds for them to start to lay and for us to hatch several generations and then the signature birds will be the dual purpose birds.”
At Mount Fortune, in the area of the old well, the touring party stopped at Sensational Flavours Farm where the owners are Salih Abdur Raheem and family. “We have found a niche market to provide tourists the opportunity to tour our farm apart from visiting historical and other sites on the island, “he stated. “We also intend to have the first restaurant on the farm because we recognise that, throughout the Caribbean, people have a tendency now to eat healthier and we only grow organic produce. We want to be the first people in Anguilla – and may be in the Caribbean – to have the first restaurant on a farm. We are looking to implement this during the tourism season within the next two to three months.
“I am very elated to see the Minister and his team visiting the farm. It is very important for the Government to see what Anguilla can produce and what the young farmers intend to do – especially from an agro-tourism perspective. Sensational Flavours is unlike other farms. We want to push agro-tourism as this is very important and essential for us because we recognise that we need a niche in that market.”
The tour continued to Smith’s Farms in the Welches area where the owner is Claude Smith. Over the years he devoted much time to animal husbandry before branching off into poultry rearing, egg production, and general agricultural produce including sweet potatoes and other cash crops.
“I think the tour is a good initiative,” he told the accompanying media personnel. “I am looking forward to seeing more involvement by Government in terms of marketing, assistance. I think to have the Minister come out for the first time and actually visiting the farms, is a step in the right direction.”
The final leg of the tour was at another area of Welches called “Rocky Hill Poultry Farm”. The Poultry Farm is owned by Othlyn Vanterpool, one of Anguilla’s premiere poultry farmers. He has a big operation which includes egg-storage and cooling facilities, cages for layers and broilers and slaughter equipment for broilers. Mr. Vanterpool’s brother Joseph, owns the adjoining pig farm. Mr. Othlyn Vanterpool currently serves as Ministerial Advisor to Minister Curtis Richardson. One of the other farm they visited, was that of Granville Duncan, who was not available for the tour of his pig farm.
Following the tour, Mr. Richardson said: “The tour was very important to me because I saw at first hand the amount of effort and investment that the farmers have put into their various farms. I think that the Government has to step up and demonstrate that we are standing with the farmers at this time.”
He continued: “I am very pleased that some of our farmers are thinking in a progressive manner about how to get tourism associated with farming. I think we definitely have to lend some support to them such as helping them to clear their farms and making them a little more organised etc. We probably can also help them in terms of fencing wire. I also believe that the [water] rates we previously put in the policy for farming may need to be revised somewhat. From talking with a lot of the farmers, they use a whole lot more water than what we made provision for in the rates.
“I was very surprised, especially when it came to egg production, that a lot of people have gone all out to get involved in this type of farming activity in Anguilla. I think the Government has to definitely step up in a serious manner to demonstrate that we will stand behind them with their egg production and enable them to sell their local eggs in Anguilla. I will go so far as to put myself on the line to say that I would ban egg importation in Anguilla at this time.” Mr. Richardson added that he was pleased with the well-ordered state and cleanliness of the farms.
President of the Farmers’ Association, Perry Horsford, commented: “I am impressed that the Minister is putting such emphasis in looking at the needs of farmers. I am impressed that he has that initiative to go out there and make sure that they are looked after. One issue, I would like to emphasise, is water because there can be no agricultural production without water whether in terms of livestock or crops.”
