Work Starts on Aquaculture Facility

The ground-breaking ceremony took place last week with the Agriculture Minister, Ezechiel Joseph.

"This forms part of government’s overall agricultural diversification programme aimed at food security," he told the St Lucia Star.

The Star reports that the new government saw aquaculture as a major area for development when it started to evaluate the agriculture sector.

"It was realized that the ministry could not provide a reliable supply of fish and baby shrimps to the farmers," Minister Joseph told the journal.

"What we found out then is that the ministry supplied about 7000, while the demand stood at 97,000 of baby fish."

The government has now started to address the problem, particularly as the country had already established several fish pond infrastructures.

A two-year project includes the establishment of both a hatchery and nursery in one location, which initially will cost in the region of EC $1.5 million.

The Ministry’s long-term plan is to establish sufficient capacity and the possibility of supplying baby fish and other fish products to neighbouring farmers in the Eastern Caribbean region.

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