NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS – Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Eric Evelyn, has reaffirmed the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) steadfast support for farmers on the island, citing tangible benefits provided throughout 2024.
Speaking during the NIA’s 2024 Budget Debate on December 05, Minister Evelyn outlined a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening the agricultural sector.
“Our registered farmers continue to enjoy concessions on various inputs. When our farmers import anything, or even if they’re going to buy it locally, they benefit from concessions, and that has been in place for years,” he said, underscoring the government’s enduring commitment to easing operational costs for farmers.
He detailed enhanced support provided to farmers in 2024 and highlighted the cost-effective services provided by the Ministry.
“Our farmers continue to benefit from concessionary rates for land preparation and heavy equipment use. Our land preparation rates are the cheapest in the region.
“In 2024, this administration and this ministry, we supported farmers and others with over 200 hours of excavation and backhoe hours, free of charge. We increased the farmers’ credit at the Larinson Parry Agricultural Depot as well. And there has been some reduction in the cost of inputs during the period to aid our farmers.”
The Deputy Premier commended the collaborative efforts between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the government of St. Kitts and Nevis on a five-year Global Environment Fund (GEF) project aimed at restoring 265 hectares of degraded land for sustainable agricultural use.
“Now, under this project, we’ve had workshops on sustainable agricultural land practices, integrated pest management (IPM), and composting, and those were hosted in January and May of 2024. We had some 18 farmers who benefited,” he noted.
The project has also delivered direct resources to farmers in the form of critical materials to boost their operations, according to Honourable Evelyn.
“Persons or farmers who participated were also presented with thermometers, pocket-sized magnifying glasses, and light and moisture testers for their farming use. The benefits to the farmers so far from this project [include] 21 rolls of ground cover, 507-foot fencing poles, 38-foot fencing poles, 25 rolls of six-foot fencing wire, one roll of submain, 30 half-inch shut-off valves, [and] three cases of seedling trees, each containing 600, to the value of $35,994.
“This is a benefit to our farmers on the island of Nevis, and this project will continue in 2025…So it shows that our farmers now are getting the requisite support, not only in terms of technically but tangible support as well.”
Minister Evelyn reiterated the administration’s dedication to ensuring that the agriculture sector remains a viable and sustainable pillar of Nevis’ economy, with continued support anticipated in the years ahead.
END