The Honourable Minister of Sustainability, Innovation and the Environment, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie, has announced a series of plans relative to the development of food security and self-sufficiency in the context of farming and fishing. She presented an overview of the plans at the Government Press Briefing on Monday, May 6th.
The initiatives include:
1- Fish Processing Plant for Island Harbour. The Minister announced that her Ministry is in the process of getting this plant started. “Formal procurement arrangements are being made,” she said, “and some fisher-folk and other stakeholders are looking forward to an upcoming consultation.”
“As soon as we are at a point where we have enough information to present to the direct stakeholders,” she promised, “we will indeed have such a consultation regarding this project.”
2 – Poultry Farmers as Sole Egg Suppliers. Mrs. Gumbs-Marie said that the island’s poultry farmers are desirous of distributing eggs throughout Anguilla as sole distributors.
“As of next week, members of the Department of Natural Resources will be visiting all supermarket merchants to hold discussions and complete a questionnaire,” she said, “so that we can understand any issues and concerns for implementing this initiative.”
She said that this conversation with merchants will be necessary so that as they move ahead with the plan they would be in a position where they are well informed and have the buy-in from all relevant stakeholders.
3 – Hatchery and Abattoir to be Commissioned. “Many persons are interested in the hatchery and abattoir,” she said. “We are progressing well with the construction as the days go by and we intend to have it commissioned soon.”
She said that the tender for work on the electrical system will be released shortly, so she is encouraging all interested electrical contractors to apply.
4 – Farmers and Fishers to Benefit from CCRIF. The Minister said that, on behalf of farmers and fishers, Government has made an application to the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). “This relates to insurance for our farmers and fishers who would be disenfranchised by the passage of a storm, drought or any natural disasters,” she said.
The CCRIF plan would enable farmers and fishers to not bear the brunt of facing loss through catastrophes on their own.
“Conversations on the various levels of insurance are going well,” she said. “This is something that our fishers and farmers had been looking forward to for a long time, and as far as we can, we will support them.”
“In this era of climate change and extreme whether events, when food providers face disasters from droughts, floods, hurricanes, fires and the like,” she said. “We must put those who try to feed our country in a position of insurance against such risks.”
5 – Removal of GST and Duties on Bait. “The Government, through Executive Council, has supported the removal of GST and duties from the import of bait for our fishers,” the Minister said. “The policy will soon come to the House for GST and Customs legislation.”
She noted that bait has become quite expensive and to remove GST and duties from it will now make it more affordable for fishers. “We had previously done GST exemptions for certain fishing items, but unfortunately bait was not part of them, and we are now seeking to correct that,” the Minister said.
