“Food Fair”
If there is ever a perfect
time to promote Agriculture and Food Security? It is the FAO World Food Day celebrations.
Recognize worldwide every year on the 16th
October, the Sandy Point Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd took
advantage once again; as it hosted its 2nd annual “Food Fair”. This food fair have become the highlight of the week of activities organized by the Dep’t of
Agriculture in the Ministry of Agriculture. These activities are geared towards
the commemoration of the world food day celebrations. This year world food day
theme is “Food Prices – Crisis to Stability”. Thus, it was necessary for us to
magnify the theme through an innovative food competition. This competition was
under the sub title “Most Nutritious and affordable Dish”, where a different
array of caters were invited to prepare and put the dish on display base on the
criteria mentioned above. 
The uniqueness of the event
was demonstrated where the different stakeholders involved in food production and the sustainability of agriculture was invited to the Sandy Point Market Place. The Sandy point Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd felt it was
essential to use this opportunity to advertise the Saturday morning market and educate potential members about the Cooperative. Among the guess list were institutions like CARDI, whom is
responsible for providing farmers with technical assistance and sharing up to
date information from researches. Another exceptional contributor to the event was
T.D.C group of companies, who had in their capacity as a local agriculture inputs
supplier, some items were; seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and
artificial soils. Patrons and farmers alike got first hand explanation of the
application technique of using the farming inputs. 
The Dep’t of fisheries who also is under the Ministry of Agriculture was there in their fullest capacity.
Multiple fact sheets, a model fish pot, safety gears all made up the wide range of fishing equipments and information sheets. It is clear to see that most people in this
generation refused to acknowledge farming as a viable business venture. As part
of our efforts to further strengthen the agricultural sector we invited The
Christopher & Nevis Social Security Board. This initiative was geared
towards giving individual the facts as to how productive farming is, and how beneficial it is being self employed.
Agro processing was yet
another aspect of the food fair where we intended to highlight. It is also one of the
avenues government wishes to improve in order to further diversify the
agricultural sector. Sweet Potato chips, guava cheese and mango wine were all
among a long list of items at the agro processers stall.
The rearing of animals for
food has taken a new face; no longer is the live stock farmer limited to the
traditional animals, but he or she is rearing rabbits, turkey, chickens for
meat and Bees for honey. The sandy Point Agricultural Society Ltd also took
advantage of the large crowd to exhibit its large variety of vegetables, fruits
and pastries. Members of the community, visitors and patrons were encouraged to
become full pledge members of the cooperative. The event was indeed a success
and we wish to say thanks to all who made it possible. 
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