Seven off to Taiwan

Six farmers, accompanied by one officer of the Cooperative Division, will leave here today, Friday, 21 March, to attend a two-week training course in Taiwan on ‘Agricultural Marketing – Operations of Farmers Groups and Cooperatives,'{{more}}

The locals will be there primarily to observe the operations of one of the more outstanding farmers groups known for the production and marketing of sweet peppers, the Chia-Yi-Sing Kang group 52, a number of their farmers’ associations, the World Vegetable Centre and the Vegetable Wholesale Market.

The group comprises: Patterson Homer, Cooperative Division, Hazzard Joseph (G’town), Pat Ottley (Chateaubelair), Noel “Boot-I” Samuel (Barrouallie), Wasem Dumbar (Rillan Hill), Vance Andrews (South Rivers) and Randy Thomas (Richland Park).

According to Chung-Yu Lee, Chief of the Taiwan Agricultural Mission, the primary objective of the visit will be to expose the participants to the operations of the various organizations and facilities as a means of improving their skills and competencies as future trainers and leaders of farmers’ groups in SVG. He added that this is in advanced preparation for a number of projects currently in the making, one of which is the “Strengthening Farmers’ Groups and Production Techniques” project, currently under construction and which is in support of the EU project, the Banana Adjustment Measures, BAM. A team of three Taiwanese experts will be here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (23rd-28th March) on a fact finding mission to advise on the way forward and complete the design of the mutual cooperation project.

The visit to Taiwan by the seven nationals is being facilitated by both the Governments of Taiwan and St Vincent and the Grenadines.