FAO reaches out to Vincentian farmers

The international Food and Agriculture Organisation has come to the assistance of Vincentian farmers who have suffered loss due to the passage of Hurricane Tomas in 2010.{{more}} Through a programme dubbed Farmers Field School Approach, close to $150,000 has been donated in the form of farm inputs, training and other materials.

Under the FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme, provision has been made to assist farmers, especially those involved in rootcrops and greenhouse vegetable production in the rehabilitation of their fields. So far, these farmers have been assisted through: the provision of $82,000 worth of vegetable seeds; the provision of close to 1000 sacks of an assortment of fertilizer (NPK) $20,000; training material including LCD projectors, laptops, flipcharts and other accessories which will be used by the Extension staff to provide on-farm training to individuals as well as groups of farmers. ($17,000); ten (10) rolls of plastic film used for weed control to reduce the costs of production related to weeding and irrigation.

Chief Agricultural Officer Reuben Robertson stated that the fertilizers are being distributed to female farmers who produce vegetable, rootcrops and maintain backyard gardens. Some of the vegetable seeds will be propagated by the Ministry for sale to farmers at the subsidized cost of 10¢ per seedling, while the rest will be given directly to other farmers.

Over 1,500 farmers are expected to benefit from this assistance, including those recently affected by the flash flooding that recently affected farmers in the north. Robertson, on behalf of the farmers and the government of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, expressed gratitude to the FAO.