Impressive!??That is how this island???s Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy, described Agrofest 2015, which was held over the weekend at Queen???s Park.

Mr. Sealy, who was acting as Prime Minister at the time, attended the annual agricultural festival on Saturday evening and said there was nothing to suggest that ???agriculture in Barbados is in any danger of dying???.

He continued: ???Far from that, I am highly encouraged and this comes against the backdrop where we have in fact seen an increase in non-sugar agriculture in Barbados??? We had the little issue with the [scarcity of] eggs but my understanding is that capacity is rapidly increasing and we will be back [on track] by May, meeting the demands as well as doing a bit of exporting because we do provide for the cruise ships that home port here???

???I was thoroughly impressed. I saw the full gamut of what Barbados has to offer from an agricultural perspective. It is heartening to see the range of livestock offerings and the traditional and nontraditional approaches to agriculture.?????The Tourism Minister praised the young entrepreneurs and the school children who were exhibiting items there, saying they had embraced the new technologies in the sector and the future of agriculture looked bright.

After the 90-minute tour, he stated that horticulture was another element of agriculture that had tremendous potential. He pointed out that Barbados will host the World Flower Show from June 18 to 25, 2017, and suggested that it could help to boost local production.

Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul, said a lot of young people were not involved in flower production and disclosed that such a competition would be introduced at Agrofest next year.

sharon.austingill-moore@barbados.gov.bb

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