A programme that will assist Saint Lucia in streamlining agricultural production has been approved by the Government of Saint Lucia.
The program necessitates the registration of active farmers in order to better plan for production cycles, and implement programs and incentives for farmers.
The acting Director of Agricultural Services, Alicia Daniel-George, said data collection is essential to the success of the project.
“The National Farmer Registration Programme entails the registration of all the farmers on the island be it crop farmers, livestock or fisheries farmers,” Mrs. George said. “The registration programme will entail getting the farmers to provide some sort of data on themselves like his or her name, and the class of farmer. The major classes under crop farmers are banana farmers, plantains, cocoa, and other crops. Under livestock farmers, the major classes are small ruminants, poultry, cattle, and broilers.”
The registration process will assist in the planning of projects aimed at improving farming practices.
“The reason for the farmer registration is that it will assist both the farmer and the Ministry of Agriculture. It will assist the ministry in planning programs and projects, and we need that data to properly plan and implement some of these programs. So we will now know for example, how many cocoa farmers or cattle farmers we have and what can be put in place to assist them.
“The farmer registration information feeds into a database so that the ministry can utilize it for planning and decision making. It will also assist us with production scheduling—we can now have the farmers involved in planning and deciding what crop is produced when.”
To be approved, farmers need to be citizens of Saint Lucia, must be actively involved in farming, and must be able to submit data on crop or livestock production, along with valid identification.
Registration will facilitate the farmer’s access to the markets and enable him to be automatically considered for concessions and incentives.
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