Above: the new Green House in Prospect
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Continuing the island’s agro-tourism push, Nevis Premier Joseph Parry officially commissioned the new Green House system at the Agricultural Station in Prospect.
Parry called the project a great technology for developing farming on Nevis, particularly the way it increases the participation of Nevisian women in agriculture.
The project marks the latest initiative in a push to develop a synergy between agriculture and tourism on the island.
The combination of agriculture and tourism was first implemented at the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis, which purchases local produce from Nevisian farmers on a regular basis.
“What we were trying to do then was sell food 12 months a year so that the Four Seasons Resort did not have to import certain fruits and vegetables,” Parry said. “Now, there is a system that is more modern, more sophisticated and can now be accepted in an effort to continue to grow tourism and agriculture and Nevis.”
While greenhouses have been used by some Nevisian farmers, the new project represents an expansion of the idea, with a better-quality yield, an increase in quantity and a reduction in the use of pesticides.
Nevis’ Ministry of Agriculture was assisted financially by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture, represented by Augustine Merchant.
Technical support for the project came from the Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute, represented by Kathleen Titus.
The entire cost of the project, which was built at LEFCO Construction, came at approximately $150,000, according to Dr Kelvin Daley, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.
For more on Nevis’ agro-tourism and green tourism, see the Caribbean Journal video below: