Just how farmers in Anguilla are faring these days will be revealed when the Agricultural Department puts on a general exhibition of produce, animals, equipment, and perhaps a planned programme of action, in the coming weeks.
The event, announced by Director of Agriculture, William Vanterpool, will be a new attempt at restoring several years of exhibitions which attracted large crowds including schoolchildren interested in agricultural science.
“The first thing we are trying to do now at the department, since Hurricane Irma in September 2017, is to give it a different image,” Mr. Vanterpool told The Anguillian newspaper. “To that end, we are doing a lot of reconstruction and bringing in new plants, animals. The first project we are working on is our agricultural exhibition. We are trying to bring back the annual event we used to have for years. For that, and other reasons, we are getting farmers, and even our staff, motivated again in order to get the place up and running again.”
This movement may be regarded, to some extent, as a denial of public opinion that little or nothing was being done by the department to encourage all levels of farmers in their farming activities.
Mr. Vanterpool explained that: “This exhibition was scheduled for the end of this month, but we are perhaps putting it back a week or two. That is because our former Head of Department, Leslie V. Richardson, has just passed away and we are dedicating the exhibition to him. We were hoping that he would still have been around for the event. We have heard that his funeral will be on the 5th of April so we have decided to allow the funeral to pass first – and we will dedicate the exhibition to his memory. He had been running the department for quite some time.
“We are working closely with the Farmers’ Association, which we have recently formed, and the Anguilla Beautification Club and other organizations, to push agriculture to a different level.”
He continued: “We are now at a stage where the Departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, are undergoing a merger process. We are also seeing how that is being played out. A number of staff members are waiting to see the outcome – and are somewhat anxious and on the edge. But our aim will be to see that the departments are functioning well and working together.”
The Anguillian was told by Mr. Vanterpool that his department is hoping to import new breeds of animals by May. In former years the department ran a stud service to improve the quality of animals on the island, as well as being involved in the sale of some of its high-bred livestock to farmers.
