‘Buccament project to help farmers’

It is important that tourism investments do more than provide direct jobs for locals in developing countries. They must provide meaningful opportunities for farmers and talented individuals.{{more}}

This is the concern of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN).

Fabrice J Leclercq of the ITC was on hand in Watford, England on July 13th and 14th for Harlequin Hotels and Resorts’ official launch of the 1000 room luxury resort, the Buccament Beach Resort, where he signed a charter between the developers and the UN, which he told SEARCHLIGHT “is a point of departure for a joint commitment to make sure that tourism can also be beneficial to the local population.”

“That means building the capacity of farmers, of service providers, of talented people so that they can use the talents in what ever area they have it,” in a partnership with the tourism operations, Leclercq told SEARCHLIGHT in a brief interview.

He said that it was the goal of the UN, as part of the overall goal of eradicating poverty, that tourism developments don’t come to developing islands and only provide direct jobs, and in the overall scheme of things be predator-like in their investments – taking and not really putting back significantly into the local population.

“The UN believes that if you really want sustainable tourism you need the local population’s involvement in tourism operations,” Leclercq said.

He commended Harlequin and it’s chairman Dave Ames, who he said called on the UN to ensure that his investments in St Vincent and the Grenadines and other Caribbean territories fall in line with what the UN expects.

SEARCHLIGHT further learnt from the Chairman of the National Investment Promotions Limited (NIPI), Edmond Jackson, that this was considered by government, when the agreement was signed with Harlequin. Jackson said that part of the agreement binds the developers to ensure “as far as possible that services and goods will be purchased in the local supply chain.” He said however, that this goes as far as the local supply doesn’t compromise the quality and sustainability of the project.

All this is good news for the local agricultural sector, which seems well poised to capitalize on the opportunities that the Buccament Beach Resort will present to local farmers. Coordinator of the Eastern Caribbean Trading Agriculture and Development Organisation (ECTAD) Jethro Greene told SEARCHLIGHT that the local farmers are willing and ready to supply quality produce to the Buccament Bay Beach Resort.

Greene said that ECTAD has already written to the developers and is just waiting on a reply so that a production plan for that hotel can be prepared. He explained that ECTAD is prepared to work with the Ministry of Agriculture and all the stakeholders in the agriculture industry to ensure that local farmers are given the opportunity to fully benefit from the tourism developments in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to Greene, even before Buccament comes on stream, there are many developments in the Grenadines which still import too much produce.

ECTAD is currently in the third year of an OXFAM International funded programme in St Lucia, which has been addressing this problem of providing greater opportunity for local farmers to supply produce to the large hotels on the island. Greene deems the St Lucia project a great success and said a draft concept paper for a similar project is being put together for St Vincent.