Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 05, 2019 (SKNIS): Although St. Kitts and Nevis has experienced a series of drought, key stakeholders within the farming and fishing sectors continue to contribute to food security initiatives in the Federation. Against this backdrop, Minister responsible for Agriculture and Marine Resources, the Honourable Eugene Hamilton, publicly commended the key stakeholders for their hard work and dedication in ensuring that the sectors are not threatened.
“At this point I have to thank our farmers and our fishers for their endurance and I hope it is not too difficult for us to recognize them and applaud them for their resilience, diligence and hard work. They work every day to contribute to the food security of our nation,” said Minister Hamilton, while speaking at the opening ceremony for the June 05-07 Drought Risk Management Workshop.
He noted that the farmers in particular have time and time again aired their concerns about the drought situation, noting that there is the need for greater collaboration to deal with the risks faced as a result of climate change.
“Our farmers though with no science degrees have frontally experienced and have been telling us for some time, what the Caribbean scientists have recently been telling us and which is now backed by scientific data that we have a challenge with water, with drought that has to be addressed,” he said. “As a people we cannot wish the changing climate away, rather we must find practical ways to reduce the associated risks, because this is a key issue, not only for St Kitts and Nevis, but for the region as a whole.”
Minister Hamilton, in giving the statistics for 2019 thus far noted that as recent as April, the Federation recorded only 31.2 millimeters of rainfall. That he said, represents about 48 percent of the average for the last fifty years. In March 2019, only 16 millimeters of rainfall was recorded or just about 32 percent of the average.
