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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 03, 2022 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Persons residing in rural-east St. Kitts now have easier access to fresh, locally grown produce following the official opening of the Bourryeau Community Vendors Market, located at the Bourryeau Strip (adjacent Fraites’ Bakery).

The vendors market was opened on Thursday, June 02, during a brief ribbon cutting ceremony that featured remarks by Prime Minister and Minister responsible for Agriculture, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Ron Collins and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Mrs. Elreter Simpson-Browne.

Prime Minister Harris commended the Ministries of Agriculture and Sustainable Development for seeing this important project to completion.

Dr. Harris noted that the community vendors market initiative forms part of the Government’s post-COVID-19 response as it will result in the easement of the burden placed on the Basseterre Public Market.  

He said, “One of the things we had to address was how we are going to overcome the overcrowding and the disorderly conduct of the sale of agricultural products. From there, ideas came that we will have to create more avenues like on Pond Road where we now have a boulevard of sorts created where persons would go and ply their trade; on the outskirts of Conaree we saw the development of that [and at] Bourryeau we saw some of that activity taking place, but of course what is happening today is that we have created…very special spaces—beautiful and attractive—an improvement where the farmers, traders and their customers can participate and do business.”

The prime minister noted further that the goal is to ensure that farmers and fishers are given the necessary resources and support to increase production, which could in turn result the reduction of the country’s food import bill.

“Too much of what we eat we are importing and one of the consequences of this is that whenever there is a shortage somewhere for wheat, for rice, for biscuits, for bread – whenever there is a shortage for raw materials and finished products we suffer the consequences here because we are not growing enough. In other words, there is still place for more people to become involved in farming and there are tremendous opportunities for doing so,” Dr. Harris said.

Permanent Secretary Collins indicated that the Ministry of Agriculture intends to construct similar booths at different locations around St. Kitts, giving citizens and residents even more options for the purchasing of locally grown fruits and vegetables.