Agro-Tourism Project to help boost economy

Two ministries have pooled their resources and specialties to improve economic development and bring benefits to this country.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Tourism, Youth and Sports last Thursday met at the Foreign Affairs Conference Room to launch the Agro-Tourism Project – an initiative of the Organisation of American States (OAS), which seeks to capitalize on all economic opportunities existing between agriculture and other private and public sectors.{{more}}

It will involve the use of a number of agricultural projects and farms to which travel tours will be organized for tourists and other visitors to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Some of the potential sites include Taiwanese Farms, cassava and arrowroot factories located at Orange Hill, the Dasheen and Rootcrop Vacuum Pack facility at Lauders and the Coconut Water Bottling Plant at Congo Valley among others.

At the ceremony, Minister of Tourism, Glen Beache gave the assurance that the project has the full support of both ministries and noted that the project is very important to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

He said that even though Tourism is the No.1 foreign exchange earner in the country, Agriculture is still very important to the development of this country.

According to Minister Beache, every Vincentian has a role to play in Tourism especially at the community level. He made specific reference to the communities in the North Leeward area.

Several countries, including St. Lucia have put into operation the Agro-Tourism Project and are said to be doing well. According to Minister Beache, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has a lot to offer in this area.

He noted that St. Vincent and the Grenadines has an advantage in that none of the other countries has what this country has to offer. “We need to take pride in SVG and make sure that the project is working properly,” he said.

The aim of the project is to make specific linkage between Agriculture and Tourism utilizing some named facilities in the country.