A tractor going through its paces in clearing the land acquired by the Farmers on the Move group. Photo: VINO

Speaking with President of the Farmers on the Move group, Khoy Smith, yesterday, September 28, 2012, Virgin Islands News Online was told that the group had acquired a track of land it was hoped would be saturated with produce within the space of a month.

The group had initially requested a ten-acre plot of land to carry out the second phase of their initiative but was instead granted a quarter acre of land, which they propose to make the most of under the circumstances.

Smith said that once the produce has been grown “we will bring the government to at least see that we are serious concerning the development of this industry.” He added that it was hoped this would “help them to take a more open approach to give us prime land that will be conducive to us in fulfilling this project.”

Smith added that currently the plot size will not be sufficient to accommodate all the farmers but hopefully with discussions, government will more readily assist with having more land to actually complete the full project.

Previously, fifteen students had graduated from the initial phase of the project which was a two-week short course in agricultural practices.

Smith expressed that this is just phase 2 of the project and explained “phase 1 was education, phase 2 is acquisition of the land while phase 3 is infrastructural development such as water dams, getting storehouses in place and facilities to prepare or package products to get them out to the supermarket and to the consumers.”

He revealed that phase 3 had already been activated with a property being located for a water dam. However, access needs to be granted from government for the property as that is crown land as well.

“If phase 1 was as successful as we thought it would have been in terms of getting the land requested (at least ten acres originally) that would have included a portion of the land for construction of the dam to be included."

The Farmers on the Move president was optimistic in saying "Government doesn't normally distribute land in that fashion but hopefully with persistence, in terms of getting the projects rolling, we might convince them to be a little more open."

This, in his estimation, was the first such initiative by government to grant land to farmers for a project of this nature.

The initial ideal, he expressed, “was once we get the appropriate land and funding from sponsors, some of the plot was to be allotted to poultry farmers and the plan was to take the manure from that and incorporate it into the gardening aspect of the project. The processing plant would automatically be fed with the appropriate amount of chicken. So everything is actually tied in."

The plant identified for use in packaging and preparing the produce is a private one located in Paraqita Bay.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Natural Resources, Ronald Smith-Berkeley, was reportedly approached by the farmers group and has made a gesture of granting one of the green houses for use next February.

Smith thanked the Ministry for allotting the plot so that it can be proven to the community that farming is a worthwhile venture and declared that the goal of Farmers on the Move is to really target persons who are at risk; meaning persons who are sitting idly on the block, unemployed and persons with perhaps no concept of what they should do.

Knowing that the industry is one that provides a sustainable form of income, he suggested there would be no doubt about job availability as opportunities will always be there for a job. He also assured that students will be the stakeholders of this industry and the areas that are being facilitated. “Instead of having to give a guy a fish, the program is hoping to attract persons so that we can teach them to fish. “

Investors were welcomed to contribute to the project, with thoughts of the implementation of a trust fund also being floated around.

Farmers on the Move is a non-profit group which now prides itself in encouraging persons to learn the process involved in becoming entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector, irrespective of whether it is livestock, crop, poultry or even fishing.

Smith said the training is free and will continue to be that way, however, the group welcomes any contributions.“This is what it’s all about, we believe that if we want to build a society we must come together as a community and put in whatever we can put in without any questions,” Smith said.

He advised that all interested persons need to do is be serious about it. Smith can be reached at 496-7190 or email coytosis@hotmail.com.

“We are not looking for an army; we are looking for a marine, a few good men and women,” Smith remarked.