Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 29, 2021 (SKNIS): The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis in its efforts to improve the quality of food within the Federation has accepted a new breed of goat, the Boer, from the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM).
During the handing over ceremony at the Island Country Farm in Parson’s Ground, Minister of Agriculture, Alexis Jeffers said “We have had this vision to enhance the livestock sector here in the Federation and that means that we have always been looking for a way to improve the genetics and the quality of the livestock that we are producing in the Federation.”
He said that the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis and in particular the Ministry of Agriculture has found a partner in the RUSVM and applauded its willingness to work with the government over many years.
“In this area of livestock, we have seen some significant improvements in the research and development that have been done and also the quality of the livestock that we have seen,” Minister Jeffers said.
“Indeed, we are happy that we have had this partnership because ultimately all of our livestock farmers will be the recipient of this particular breed and of course that would lead to the enhancement of their livelihood and making some money in the process,” he said.
Dean of the RUSVM, Dr. Sean Callanan, also spoke about the partnership between the two entities saying, “I would like to acknowledge that we’ve had a wonderful partnership with the government and in particular with the Ministry of Agriculture.”
“As you know we teach our students a one health concept which means that healthy animals lead to healthy humans, leads to a healthy society and this is one really strong example of this as you can see here today we have wonderful healthy goats,” he added.
“Part of the reason for healthy goats is broadening genetic diversity, in other words broadening the pool of animals from which you can sample from, animals that have evolved over time to show high-quality meat, high-quality products and resistance to disease,” said Dr. Callanan.