Agriculture sector is crucial for survival: PM Roosevelt Skerrit

Roseau, Dominica: The Prime Minister of Commonwealth of Dominica, Dr Roosevelt Skerrit attended the OECS Youth in Agriculture Symposium’s Opening Ceremony where he shed light on the importance of agriculture sector and called it “crucial” for the survival of the island nation.

While addressing all the attendees of the symposium, PM Skerrit recognized young people from across the OECS and thanked them for their presence and the leadership in their efforts towards food security and sustainability.

PM Skerrit shared his concern and stated that they cannot build capacity and secure their well-being if they will rely on importing food from outside of the region. While shedding light on the benefits of the development in the agriculture sector, he stated that it brings in foreign exchange and when a country benefits from it, then they have access to money to build roads, schools, to sustain health systems, to invest in small business development and many more.

The Prime Minister further asserted that the people, as small farmers, have a crucial role to play in the sustainability and the future of the countries. Therefore, he recognized young people and stated that they have to start celebrating and drawing positive attention to those who are not involved in the agriculture sector. He further asserted that whoever gets involved in it needs to be committed and dedicated to it.

PM Skerrit further stated that their countries rely exclusively on banana exports and he asked what if their preferential shares are taken away from them, then it will result in increasing poverty, unemployment and dislocation. Therefore, he shed light on diversification effort and stated if they had started the process then their economies would have in a much better circumstance today.

While emphasising on the young people, he stated that he is extremely happy to see young people who are willing to invest in agriculture. He stated that this symposium which will be conducted for three days will play a huge role in guiding young individuals, elevating the agriculture sector of the island nation to greater heights.

PM Skerrit noted that this symposium would provide an opportunity for several youths from eight OECS territories to come together and channel their thoughts and energies to develop the agriculture department. He continued to say that the engaging workshops and mentorship sessions will be conducted on several topics such as research, innovation and technology, agri-business development. He stated all these topics will youth play a huge role in decision-making and governance within the agriculture sector.

The Prime Minister asked youth to be the future of the agriculture sector and asked them to make continuous efforts to lead small island nations to growth and development.