Food security seems to be forgotten – MP Bellingham
Amazed at the abundance of opportunities available in the Overseas Territories (OTs), the MP said he spoke with Premier Hon. Dr. D. Orlando Smith, adding that there are some really good ideas for diversifying the Virgin Islands’ economy.
“As the living standards increase in the BVI, people want to import some exotic foods, but food security is a big issue,” he charged.
According to Mr. Bellingham, in the past most Caribbean countries were sustainable in terms of production of food, but now that has changed with many “importing a great deal of food."
Although he did not touch on the greenhouses, this news agency had published an article stating that the Ministry for Natural Resources and Labour (MN&RL) requested the Internal Audit Department to do an audit of the project before a decision is made on the next step forward.
This was according to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Ronald Smith-Berkeley when he appeared before members of the 2012 Standing Finance Committee (SFC). PS Smith-Berkeley had disclosed that moving forward, the Ministry needed to have a better understanding of what happened and “where we are financially”. The audit will cover both Tortola and Virgin Gorda projects.
The project was a brainchild of former Minister for Natural Resources and Labour, Omar Hodge and faced stiff opposition from farmers and several concerned residents, who were of the view that the project would affect the livelihood of farmers.
However, in an interview with Hodge in late 2010, he had pointed out that the Territory’s import bill for food was extremely high and stated that with mass production of several cash crops grown in the VI, fresher produce will be available to the community.
But on August 9, 2011, the then Minister informed this news agency that the greenhouses would not become operational that year because the project was awaiting the arrival and installation of a water tank that was being sourced in Miami but could not give a time line and had said, “It will take some time as money for that project is small”.
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