Page 17 - Agric Info Mag 01 2017

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The objectives of this project are:
 To provide a collection depot for bananas and other
commodities.
 To allow for cost reduction in loading of the same com-
modities.
 To provide an adequate facility for the improvement in
packaging

The Honorable Saboto Caesar, Minister of Agriculture, Ru-
ral Transformation, Forestry, and Fisheries indicated that
this effort is to establish a diversified agricultural platform
of which bananas will continue to play a critical role.
Construction in progress
(Internal view) He also noted that there are many other commodities
which are going to be a very important and critical part of
the National Agricultural Production platform.

Mr. Ricardo Frederick, BAM Project Coordina-
tor, said that the centre is one of the projects
funded by the European Union (EU) Grant
Fund of EC$30 million dollars, to promote the
production and productivity within the agricul-
tural sector. He also outlined several other pro-
jects that is ongoing and BAM’s hope to impact
the agricultural sector and the production
yields and export of agricultural commodities.

The entire process for the implementation of
the project requires inter-ministerial input;
therefore, the Ministry of Economic Planning is Material bought to commence construction
playing a vital role in executing the project. Ms.
Csekai Bowman, Procurement Officer, from
the Economic Monitoring Unit, highlighted the
Ministry’s responsibility in the process and pro-
vided an update on the work done so far.
These efforts will enhance the current five
prong programme by the Organization for the
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat
for the advancement of intra-regional and extra
-regional trade in agricultural commodities,
both bananas and non-bananas.