Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 19, 2023 (SKNIS): The Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Samal Duggins, spoke about a new initiative to supply water to farmers throughout the country during his appearance on the popular radio and television show ‘In Focus’ on October 18 in observance of World Food Day 2023.
The minister explained that the Ministry of Agriculture is partnering with the Water Services Department to supply water from wells, that do not meet the requirement for potable water supply, to the farmers.
He said, “When you are talking about farms, sometimes you can go with less and so while there are wells that have been tapped into before, it just did not meet the domestic supply requirement, and so we have been recognizing that we can use them for agriculture,” said the Honourable Minister.
“There is a project ongoing that is part of the DRIP project, and the ministry is collaborating with the Department of Water in terms of how we can access some of these wells for agriculture and make sure that our farmers have adequate water supply.”
He added that there are various complications in relation to utilizing the domestic water supply as a source of water for farmers because the potable water is used to supply vast villages and so the demand for that water must be significant.
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