South Central Windward poultry project ‘a grassroot approach’

Michael Dalton, Country Representative for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has described the South Central Windward poultry project as a “grassroot approach” towards the development of agriculture.{{more}}

Speaking at the official launch of the project on Monday, Dalton told the gathering that chicken is this country’s main meat of consumption and Vincentians need to reduce the foreign exchange spent on this commodity.

“We all know that chicken is one of our major consumptions in St Vincent and the Grenadines. No doubt about that… The more we can produce here, the better for us,” he said.

He, however, warned the farmers involved in the project that there will be challenges and they must do their part in keeping the dialogue open between themselves, the technocrats and retailers in order for the business to succeed.

“It is going to be a challenge, because we are attempting to do something that involves a lot of logistics … so I want to say to you, from the outset, that this calls for a real relationship between you the farmers and us the technocrats and all the other players, including the retailers, who are going to buy these produce,” Dalton stated.

The IICA representative also noted that one of the largest unemployed groups is the young people and issued a call for more young persons to become involved in the project.

“There is the belief among some that there is no future in agriculture. I beg to differ.

“I want to believe that up to this point, 2012 and beyond, in this agricultural sector, we have tremendous potential, but it’s just that we have to apply great power to seek out the opportunities and when we find them to actually proceed beyond that,” he further added.

Funding for the project was done with the assistance of a US $51,000 grant from the Grenadines Partnership Fund.(AA)