This vendor shows off her mouth-watering salt fish at the closing event of Farmer’s Week - the Food Fair – held in Palm Grove Park on Friday, February 8. See story on page 5. (Photo by Andrew Wilkins)

With a firm commitment of support from Government, local producers expanding their operations and strong public support during the celebration, the 2008 Farmer’s Week celebration was ‘excellent’ and set the pace for agriculture in the Virgin Islands, said Abdul Shabazz, from the marketing unit of the agriculture department.

“Everything is in motion to have a big lift in agriculture,” Shabazz said. “If we get Minister Omar Hodge to come through on things – more technology, more greenhouse farming, the commitment of the Premier — we will be well on our way.”

The Department is reviewing how the celebration went, and is still considering changes that might need to be made, Shabazz said. Because the celebration has grown so large, they might involve other departments like the Tourist Board, move the event to one main ground and/or build infrastructure to make things easier next year.

Making changes to the weekly farmer’s market has been suggested as a way to pump up local agriculture and re-connect people to those who grow their food. Supermarkets drain interest from the farmer’s market, but agriculture officials point out that the food is fresher and can be cheaper because the middleman is cut out.

In the United States and Europe , farmers’ markets are growing because people want to know who is growing their food and make sure food is treated with care and grown in a sustainable, healthy way. Many farmers’ markets are an attraction in themselves, featuring music and other entertainment.

One customer buying fruit and vegetables from a smiling vendor said for years she would attend the farmer’s market in Road Town . She said she does not go anymore because it is held about 6:00 a.m. on Saturday – just too early for her. The time is a consistent complaint and explains the lack of support for the Road Town farmer’s market, several attendees of the celebration said.  

One vendor said expanding the celebration to include Friday was a bad idea. The crowds were small, she said. Friday was included to make sure school children would attend, according to the speakers at the opening ceremonies for the celebration.

Even with constructive complaints about the industry and celebration, agriculture is growing, Shabazz said, pointing to expanding crop and livestock operations and an industrious farmer who is damming a ghut to water his 11-acre farm and fruit orchard in Butu Mountain .

The commitment to agriculture by Premier Ralph T. O’Neal and Minister of Natural Resources and Labour Omar Hodge during their opening day speeches was noted by both agriculture officials and local farmers.

Long-time farmer Moviene Fahie agrees that local agriculture needs more support.

Farmers need more water, more trained technical support and a commitment from the Government to grow the industry of agriculture, she said.

“Government has got to get serious. What we do is not a joke,” Fahie said. “A country without food is a dead country. And that’s what we could be — a dead country.”

To get the next generation interested in agriculture, Fahie said the Government needs to put agriculture back into the schools.

From school children and up, there is much to be learned about agriculture, informed parties say.

The agriculture department is looking to St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands for agricultural help, Shabazz said.

“ St. Croix agriculture is big, we’ve already benefited from going there for pure-bread Senepol cattle,” Shabazz said.

Along with the St. Croix-bred heat tolerant Senepol, the Department of Agriculture is also planning to import goats and investigate other ways to improve local agriculture from the big island. The department will be attending this weekend’s St. Croix agriculture fair and plans to take the territory’s specialties like: cassava bread, guinea corn, sugar cakes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, Creole coco pods and fruit candies made by Joann Hill from the Road Town museum.

Even though St. Croix is bigger and has more flat land, Shabazz said St. Croix has always been the Virgin Islands ’ ‘mentor’ and the Territory can look to them to find out how to do things differently and better.

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