John Myers Jr., Agriculture Coordinator
Cedric Liburd, Minister of Housing, Agriculture, Fisheries and Consumer Affairs in St. Kitts-Nevis. - PHOTO BY JOHN MYERS
WITH THE transition out of sugar moving much slower than expected, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is relying on investments in co-generation, non-sugar agriculture and tourism to create more employment opportunities for the large number of displaced sugar workers and boost the local economy.
Cedric Liburd, St. Kitts' Minister of Agriculture, said the Government has received multiple offers from international companies expressing interest in acquiring the assets of the St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturing Corporation (SSMC) for co-generation.
"We have now received three proposals from three companies (expressing interest in) ethanol (production) and electricity generation," Mr. Liburd said. He said the offers have come from companies in Norway, Sweden and the United States.
EUROPEAN COMPANY
At the same time, Mr. Liburd said another company, also from Europe, has expressed interest in establishing a rum distillery for manufacturing a specialised rum for sale mainly in Europe.
"They have had the opportunity to come to St. Kitts to look at the various locations. They are now satisfied and have agreed on the particular location (and) they are now working out their maths to (determine) how much acreage of land and all of the other things to go with it for them to prepare officially their business plan so that it can be given consideration by the Government," he said.
Mr. Liburd said there have also been expressions of interest from overseas investors in using sugar cane waste to manufacture animal feed for the livestock industry.
"We had a delegation from Cuba which came and looked at the possibility of how we can use the sugar cane to produce animal feed for our livestock here," the St. Kitts Agriculture Minister revealed. If this proves feasible, Mr. Liburd said this could boost the island's production of meat and reduce the level of imports.
NON-SUGAR AGRICULTURE
"We are now working towards non-sugar agriculture as much as possible, because the large importation of food into the country must come to an end. We must focus on reducing that large importation," he stressed. He said the country' s food import bill now amounts to over EC$18 million and is hoping to cut that by at least 25 per cent over the next five years.
A special committee has been established by the government to receive and examine the offers.
The minister said: "What the Government expects out of this is that we will first find employment for our workers and also we are hoping that this will help to generate foreign exchange for St. Kitts and Nevis, because you will recognise that even though we were losing money (from the sugar industry), we were also collecting about EC$30 million in foreign exchange."
