Department of Agriculture reports on Commissioning of Kew Farm in North Caicos

#TurksandCaicos, August 9, 2021 – It was a day of pride and joy for the community of North and Middle Caicos as the Department of Agriculture formally commissioned the recently upgraded Kew Farm facility on the 9th July, 2021. The event started at 2 pm and Her Excellency Anya Williams, the Honourable Premier Charles Washington Missick, the Honourable Deputy Premier Erwin Jay Saunders, the Honourable Josephine Connolly, the Honourable Rachel Taylor, the Honourable Matthew Stubbs and the Honourable Sean Malcolm and our esteemed farmers were in attendance.

The Kew Farm, North Caicos is a historical site and is part of the rich agricultural history of the Turks and Caicos Islands that started with the propagation of Sisal in the late 1940’s. Opened in the 80’s, the farm is now equipped with an office, animal pens, roads and lighting and a packing house.

It is the first Government Facility in the Turks and Caicos that is completely Solar-Operated. Not only will the farm have the capacity to carry out its day to day activities by effectively utilizing energy but it is now aligned with regional and international standards for modern farm structures.

The farm is the first Research Farm in the TCI and its mandate is not for commercial production as its goal is not to compete with farmers for the limited market share. But it would be utilized for Research and Training purposes so that farmers can have access to new technologies and interactive training to improve their production. The new journey to include agriculture sector in the National Development plans of the TCI has only just begun.

The Premier Hon. Charles Washington Missick recognized the stalwarts in the field of Agriculture.

He acknowledged the need to create the linkage between agriculture and the tourism industry – “Creating the right linkages would ensure that we are strategizing to have control of our own food.”

The idea is to start by introducing agriculture in a meaningful way into the curriculum, farmers forming co-operatives and creating the required market access. With the additional funds injected into the sector it would give farmers the added support.

The Hon. Josephine Connolly commented, “We cannot emphasize that food security and decreasing our high dependency on food imports is a major ambition, we have to create linkages for the Agricultural sector growth, so that we would be able to feed not only residents but visitors. We are serious about this agriculture sector. As you know during the recent budget session, we infused one million additional dollars into the sector. These funds will go toward several initiatives, including the setting up of a more structured and comprehensive grant scheme for farmers and the development of a National Nursery, that will provide seedlings and further support to farmers across these islands.”

The farmers were presented with the first incentive packages distributed by the Honourable Josephine Connolly with the assistance of Deputy Permanent Secretary Ministry of Tourism Mr. Arthur Been.

The package consisted of high yielding seed varieties that included corn, sweet peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and many other vegetables.

The staff of Kew Farm North Caicos were honoured for their hard-work and dedication by tokens of appreciation distributed by Her Excellency Anya Williams.

Truly a memorable day in the history of Turks and Caicos Islands Agriculture; it is certainly not the end but a new beginning.

Let’s continue to Grow TCI as we need you on board to make this happen.