The St. Lucia government says Taiwan has approved a project aimed at helping the island reduce its food import bill.
“We have identified seven crops because we can’t grow everything. We need to focus on what we can grow and grow it on a sustainable basis,” said Agriculture Minister, Ezechiel Joseph.
Joseph, who has recently returned from a visit to Taipei, said the three-year project will focus on import substitution and identified the crops to be targeted as cucumbers, lettuce, sweet peppers, cabbages, watermelons, pineapples and cantaloupes.
He said that St. Lucia imports an estimated seven million dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) of the crops identified on a yearly basis.
“We are identifying farmers that we know can grow these crops. We are going to give them the support and the new technology so we can grow these crops on a sustainable basis.
“One of the outcomes of our visit to Taiwan was looking at new technology. We are restructuring the St.Lucia Marketing Board because that is critical, because farmers need a reliable market for them to be able to sell their produce on a timely basis,’ he told reporters.
