Jethro Greene is not abandoning his belief in the dignity and respect of people.

Greene, Chief coordinator of the Eastern Caribbean Training Agriculture and Development Company (ECTAD), made his position clear last Monday morning at the Third Annual National Stakeholders Planning Conference. {{more}}

ECTAD is a non-profit farmers, training, rural and agricultural development organisation with links to 11 such bodies on mainland St. Vincent. It was in the strides that ECTAD has made that Greene made his remarks.

He boasted of the prestige and reputation that ECTAD acquired in six months of operations with the neighbouring state of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique.

ECTAD he said, has become the leading export agency of Vincentian produce to Grenada in the aftermath of the damage wrought by the passage of Hurricane Ivan on that Spice Island.

Greene dismissed the myth that black people couldn’t work together. He commended rural farmers and their links for putting their skills into practice to get the shipments to Grenada.

He said that over 500,000 pounds of mixed commodities had been sent including the most recent delivery yesterday Thursday.

ECTAD also exports to the US, and Greene boasted that, owing to the quality and high standard of packaging by ECTAD, offers were coming in from other countries to do business with the agency.

Greene noted that 150 farmers had benefited as a result of the project and he highlighted the employment created and location of markets as additional advantages.

He pointed to the spillover of such measures to the community, with improvements to life and the food base as aspects of the expanding activity.

ECTAD’s whose network includes Fancy, Owia, Sandy Bay, Georgetown, Greggs Vermont, Barrouallie, Spring Village, Rose Hall, Chateaubelair, Fitz Hughes and Mesopotamia. is placing emphasis with this year’s conference on sustainable markets.

Chief Agricultural Officer Philmore Isaacs declared the two-day session open. He praised ECTAD for their efforts in coordinating the activities of rural farmers. He stressed on cooperation and encouraged farmers especially to work together to ensure benefits for every one in the overall scheme of things.

The event also heard from Jomo Thomas, CEO of the Social Investment Fund while agriculturist Ashley Caine spoke on Monday to the delegates on Integrating Good Agricultural practices.