Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Israel Bruce, said efforts underway by the Ministry to produce Irish potatoes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are very promising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His comments came after he visited three (3) experimental plots in the Belle Isle area. Speaking from the plot farmed by the inmates at the Belle Isle prison facility, Minister Bruce said the data indicate that the 2026 yields have surpassed those achieved in previous experiments. He described this as a good sign: \u201cIt means, therefore, that we can begin to contemplate reducing our importation of Irish potatoes into St. Vincent and the Grenadines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are duty-bound to continue to push this type of production. It\u2019s the only way we\u2019re going to reduce importation and give us even a possibility to do export. Even if we don\u2019t get to the point where we export the white potato, we could get to the point where we don\u2019t have to import it. And that would be a significant game changer\u201d, the Minister of Agriculture disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlighting the inmates\u2019 contribution, Minister Bruce stated that there is potential for the prison to supplement its food supplies with Irish potatoes grown on its farm. Accordingly, the Minister of Agriculture highlighted the programme\u2019s importance to the government, \u201cin terms of the reduction of costs of having to buy food imported to feed the prisoners. Of course, there\u2019s still a cost in planting the seed and taking care of it. But I believe the cost is reduced significantly bythe production that is happening here.\u201d Minister Bruce added that locally grown Irish potatoes can also supplement existing crops such as dasheen, and aid food diversification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He urged farmers to take the advice of the planning unit and the extension services: \u201cWe can\u2019t have a system with ill-discipline in it. So, when we say to you that the potato is not going to be suitable for your area, don\u2019t start thinking that the Ministry and the Minister don\u2019t want you to produce potatoes. That\u2019s not it. They\u2019re using the intel that they have, and we want to make sure that if you\u2019re planting ginger, you\u2019ll get the best price for ginger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Agriculture Instructor, Iasha Cambridge, said the yields and sizes, particularly from participating farmers, are quite promising, with little spoilage observed. She explained, that given the results, this country can move straight into full production: \u201cSo, with the training that has been done so far, and with the help of the extension officers, they tend to, well, it\u2019s evident that they did guide the farmers pretty well, and the yields have shown pretty good so far with the farmers and them that we have checked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also had a farmer who reported that he had over 1, 200 pounds of potatoes harvested already from just a small area of land,\u201d Cambridge disclosed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Israel Bruce, said efforts underway by the Ministry to produce Irish potatoes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are very promising. His comments came after he visited three (3) experimental plots in the Belle Isle area. Speaking from the plot farmed by the inmates at the Belle Isle prison facility,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[412,274],"class_list":["post-45431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","tag-agricultural-development","tag-agriculture"],"yoast_head":"\n