Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 10, 2021 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources honoured 10 hardworking and pioneering women for their contributions to the sector during a ceremony at the Agricultural Conference Room, La Guerite on Monday, March 08, 2021, International Women’s Day.
Tricia King and Dr. Tracey Challenger were honoured for technical and administrative support in Marine Resources and Agriculture (Livestock Division) respectively. The other honourees were Francella Stephens – Fisheries; Yvette Huggins – Meat Trader; Joan Napier – Horticulture; Agnes Crossley – Market Vending; Denise Gillard – Crop Farming; Arabella Nisbett – Agroprocessing and Annette France – Livestock. Fahies Agriculture Women’s Cooperative was honoured in the Women’s group in Agriculture category.
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources, the Honourable Alexis Jeffers, deemed the event extremely significant and congratulated the women on their achievement.
“This is a very auspicious occasion in the sense that today and moving forward… women are front and centre in all that we do today because you are given a whole day to be recognized,” said Minister Jeffers. “But, of course, we recognize our women every single day for their contribution towards family life, nationhood, and also throughout the globe women continue to do a marvelous job in terms of the development and providing us with that framework and the environment for development of this our blessed earth,” he added.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Ron Dublin Collins, congratulated and thanked the honourees for their contributions to the sectors.
“Today is an opportune moment for us to say thank you to our women, to encourage them, to recognize them, because their contribution has been tremendous. [I] trust that this would be a day of celebration and recognition which is well due to the women who play so great a role in the agriculture and fisheries sector,” said Permanent Secretary Collins.
International Women’s Day 2021, is celebrated under the global theme “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World”.
“It [the theme] seeks to celebrate the tremendous efforts and the contributions that our women and girls play in shaping a more equal future particularly in those recovery efforts from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said Mr. Collins.
He added that the ministry intends to make the event annual “as women and youths are part of the priority areas for the Ministry of Agriculture going forward.”-30-
