St. Kitts and Nevis along with three (3) other Caribbean islands have recently held Workshops in preparation to implement a regional project to tackle food insecurity and improve food production.  

Dubbed the “Integrated Crop Management under Protected Cultivation Systems Training of Trainers Workshop” it aims to promote innovative, adapted and sustainable protected cultivation systems to grow high value and nutritious crops. 

The workshop was being held in the Disaster Conference Room at the Department of Agriculture here on Nevis and was facilitated by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative, Mr. Melvin Medina Navarro. 

Several farmers and technical staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources on both St. Kitts and Nevis participated in these workshops. 

During the workshop, topics such as: the importance of Integrated Crop Management as an approach to obtain high yields and important aspects to increase the efficiency in managing factors such as climate, soil, water, nutrients, seedlings, pest & diseases and cultural practices were covered. 

This project was designed to help the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face challenges which make them vulnerable to food insecurity, including limited land mass and population; lack of arable land; high vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters and high dependence on food imports, coupled with limited economic sectors.