Better prices coming for farmers – Caesar

The Unity Labour Party (ULP) parliamentary representative for South Central Windward is urging Vincentians to keep the party in for a fourth term if they want to continue to see improvements in the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

At a political rally that took place last Saturday at Richmond Hill, Saboto Caesar told party supporters in attendance to choose the ULP because it has “many more changes to continue and missions to complete.”{{more}}

Boasting that produce from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) currently has the lion’s share of the root crop market in Trinidad and Tobago, Caesar said: “In the fourth term, better prices for farmers’ produce – our yams, our dasheen, our tannia and eddoes is the first order of business. Better prices are coming!”

Having served as Minister of Agriculture for the past three years, he also pointed out that SVG is the “largest exporter of cattle” in the CARICOM region; and that exportation of fish to the USA is expected to begin before Christmas.

Caesar acknowledged that the Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) does its utmost to discredit the achievements of the current administration, but urged Vincentians to disregard this.

“You will be bombarded from the other side about issues of bananas. The first question we must ask the NDP on the issue of bananas is this: why did the NDP leave the banana industry in a debt of over $10 million in 2001 going in the last elections?” he questioned.

He also asserted that the NDP did not have a solution for the banana issue back then, and don’t have a solution for it now either. Additionally, he questioned why 50 per cent of the nation’s farmers left the industry in the last eight years of the NDP’s administration.

“They can’t answer it because they do not want to tell you the honest truth!”

Caesar added: “NDP is not a topic in this campaign – to focus on the NDP, you have to look back. Move forward with the ULP!”

The South Central Windward parliamentary representative also spoke about the advances in environmental health and infrastructure – among others – that occurred under the ULP.

In particular, he urged young persons to register and vote, considering the numerous educational achievements that young people have been making through developments put forward by the ULP.

“Young people, this is your time! I am encouraging you to go out and register. We must, as Bunny Wailer said, stand predominate. We must understand what Dr Martin Luther King meant by ‘the urgency of now’…

“How can I forget the times when pursuing a university degree were scarcer than finding good gold? ULP has changed that. Today, this government offers scholarships to hundreds of students, and loans totalling millions… we must be happy for that!”

Caesar also noted the increase in job opportunities for young people that will arise out of the opening of the Argyle International Airport.

“It is a defining moment in the history of SVG. It is that moment when we have to make a most important decision very soon,” he urged.

“You do this for our country, you do this for your party, you do this for your family, and we do this for ourselves – securing a bright future even for the unborn.” (JSV)