There has been a reduction of EC$3.8 million in the food import bill of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the first six months of 2018.

This was disclosed by Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar who said that the import value of food for the period June 30, 2018 was EC$119 million, which is a decrease of about 3 percent, from the EC$123 million for the comparative period in 2017.

This disclosure came in response to a question posed by the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) during yesterday’s meeting of Parliament.

Meanwhile, Minister Caesar said his ministry is working to establish a production platform so as to reduce the importation of several commodities including spinach, broccoli, carrots, black eye peas and peanuts.

The Agriculture Minister further noted that a capital project needs to be put in place to address the importation of onions, garlic and English potatoes.

Minster Caesar expressed dismay at the vast quantities of local produce not being harvested and consumed by citizens.

He said there is a huge space for persons here to practice more ‘import substitution’ and to further reduce the food import bill.

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