By Brent Simon and Carol-Faye Bynoe-George
Despite the rainy weather, yesterday’s broccoli harvesting activity at the Green Castle Agricultural Station was successfully completed.
The event hosted in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy, The Long Ping High Tech Corporation and the Ministry of Agriculture, highlighted the importance of agricultural cooperation and innovation in Antigua and Barbuda.
The half day function began with brief remarks from, Mrs. Maudvere Bradford/Senior Research Officer, in the Ministry of Agriculture, welcoming the participants and giving a short history of the background and significance of the event.
Representatives from the Chinese Embassy in the persons of, Mrs.Chang Yun, The Director of Economic and Commercial Affairs Office of the Chinese Embassy in Antigua and Barbuda, and Ms. Ai HongFei, Third Secretary, along with Mr. Gregory Bailey/Director of Agriculture, as well as technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders in the industry.
The highlight of the event was the harvesting session, where participants worked together to meet the 150 – pound broccoli harvest quota. Tools and guidance were provided on site, ensuring a smooth and efficient process despite the weather challenges.
The Farmers that assisted with the harvesting and received seedlings were the participants from the training held in October.
They were Elsbeth Higgins, Ernestine Skepple, Adashena Ralph, Roseann Pelle, Cadisha Allen, Donna Pelle, Macbeth George, Alex Sonnes, Craig Joseph, Stephen Botsio and Mr. Pascal.
This was the second batch of the broccoli demonstration project at Green Castle Agricultural Station in collaboration with the Long ping High Tech Corporation.
The broccoli planted on November 28, 2024, were first harvested earlier this month, and this second harvest shows the potential of such initiatives.
We are reminded of the Director of Agriculture’s remarks at a previous event, where he stated that, “Nontraditional crop commodities such as broccoli hold tremendous economic potential since there is a high demand, with almost a hundred percent being imported from overseas.”
The event concluded with a vegetable donation function, where the harvested broccoli, along with 100 pound of cucumbers, 100 pounds of peppers, and 300 pounds of Chinese cabbage, was donated to the participants.
Some of the recipients commented on the high quality of the harvested vegetables and opined that agricultural sector has an enormous opportunity to expand with the continued community-oriented approach for agricultural development.
The institutions which received the generous vegetable donations were: Mount St. John’s Hospice, Antigua and Barbuda Public Service Association, Antigua Diabetic Association, Premier Nursing Home, Love and Care Nursing Home and the St. John’s Hospice.
The success of the event reflected the dedication of all involved, from the organizing team to the participants who braved the weather.
This activity underscore the positive impact of international agricultural partnerships and the resilience of local farmers and stakeholders in advancing Antigua and Barbuda’s agricultural goals.
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The same playbook is being used on the People by another set of Colonisers.
The Chinese are tactically using our resources and labour, to achieve their end results.
It would be great if [great] minds like Cornell Hughes can comment on these wonderful advances in Agriculture in Antigua.
Ras Smood aka Jumbee_Picknee
De’ole Dutty Peg🦉Garrat_Bastard
Vere C. Edwards
Great work Antigua and Barbuda, and China, we have to be self sufficient, China was able to lift 1 over 1 billion of its people out of poverty, now they are teaching third world countries how it can be done.
One of the hardest things in live is to teach an old dog new tricks. Framers like Purcell who have the knowledge and expertise are not taking part and continue on their traditional produce, onions, pumpkin etc. We need to focus on what is imported and try to fill that market so that we do not spend all of our heavy earned Tourism dollars on importation of these crops. I thank the Chinese Government and people for keeping assiting our country in attaining food security. I hope some your farmers will see the economic benefit in growing these crops that the market demands and which the supermarkets and the hotels are importing. We need to be targeted in our farming. It seems that most farmers are planting the same crops at the same time and therefore from time to time the market gets overloaded. And then after a while their is shortage. For some months now there were no tomatoes on the market. Only Epicurean had imported tomatoes at very high prices. I’ll bet you soon our farmers will flood the market. The same is happening with cucumber. You have long periods that no one has cucumbers and then suddenly everyone has. We need proper planning of these crops to ensure you can supply the market 365 days of the year. Their is no reason that cannot be done. The technology is there for them to be used. And these are crops that can grow in green houses.
To Geopolitics issues can you also remind us how many Chinese Mao Zedong the political terrorist and his regime slaughtered in the process? It’s estimated that between 40 million to 80 million Chinese were slaughtered like pigs and fed to pigs. Is this true?
@Less We Forget how can we forget how well your cover up ignorance. There have been several aquaponics and hydroponics farms – Lincoln Farms, Shaade Hydroponics, Indies Greens and the likes have been trying for years to get the same perks, tax breaks, lands, to advance the technology of farming on the island. Therefore since you are in the know like Teko Lake, a former waste of a Cabinet minister can you tell us how were these enterprises assisted by the government? And did such assistance came after many struggling farmers complained vehemently about the competition and squeezing they were getting from Gaston Browne and his family farm – Farmer Browne? Did Farmer Browne sell the farm to a Chinese government company after Farmer Browne allegedly used tax payers monies to set up the Farm east of Pares?