Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 19, 2023 (SKNIS): Commemorating a tradition initiated back in 1979, St. Kitts and Nevis stands alongside global communities in observing World Food Day with a week of activities.
The week began with the 13th Annual World Food Day Fair and Agricultural Exhibition on October 14. This was followed by a Church Service on Sunday, October 15. On World Food Day, October 16, the focus shifted to School Garden Renovation and Hydration activities. The Agri Night Market, with a special World Food Day Edition, is scheduled for Wednesday, October 18, 2023. On Thursday, October 19, dedicated farmers and fishers will be honored at a prize-giving ceremony. The week’s events wrap up on Friday, October 20, with the St. Christopher Outreach Luncheon.
On the October 18 episode of Infocus, Chaira Flanders, the lead Communications Specialist in the Ministry of Agriculture, underscored the importance of World Food Day.
“World Food Day, instituted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is a worldwide celebration. This day offers us an unparalleled platform to underscore the pivotal role of food and food security in our lives,” Ms. Flanders said.
Echoing this year’s theme, ‘Water is Life, Water is Food. Leave No One Behind,’ she noted that the Ministry of Agriculture is dedicated to ensuring that students, farmers, fishers, and all agricultural stakeholders are actively engaged in these discussions.
Ms. Flanders further stressed the importance of St. Kitts and Nevis’s annual participation in World Food Day Observances.
“St. Kitts and Nevis is on the path and forging forward to achieve the reduction in the food import bill and we are seeking to meet CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 Agenda. It is therefore, extremely important for us, now more than ever, to highlight the importance of food security because we need our stakeholders to understand that St. Kitts and Nevis is in a position to accomplish the reduction in the Food Import Bill,” she said. “At this level, especially coming out of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many of the islands across the region have come to notice that we cannot survive without agriculture, we cannot survive if we don’t have food and water. And so emphasis must be placed on this specific ministry and this sector on a whole.”
CARICOM’s ‘25 by 2025’ initiative aims to curtail high food imports by a whopping 25 percent by the year 2025. Such endeavors are central to ensuring food and water security for the region, enabling a sustainable and prosperous future.
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