Caribbean destinations, including highly successful ones, that depend almost entirely on tourism for their livelihood often talk about diversifying the economy to make it less vulnerable. For those that don’t get as many visitors this is not just a
desire, but absolutely necessary.
Take St. Eustatius. The current overseas special public entity of the Netherlands always had a fairly strong livestock and fisheries sector, which, for example, the arrival of the oil terminal and the business it brought did not change.
Moreover, when the medical school there closed its doors not too long ago, animal husbandry and fishing helped soften the blow. There are sometimes complaints about roaming cattle and such, but the industry has grown in importance, prompting the investment in a new abattoir several years back that was first called a “white elephant” but by now has proven its worth.
According to the latest reports (see Friday paper), government and individuals exported 24,751.2 pounds of meat from April to December 2015. If the same average was reached during the first quarter, the whole year’s total may have surpassed the 30,000-pounds mark.
With all the less-than-positive publicity in recent times regarding Statia’s financial issues and instruction by the Dutch Government, this bit of good news should not go unnoticed. People involved in these and related activities are providing the island with an important source of employment and income that does not depend on guests.
Although hurricanes had a negative impact in 2015 due to uncertainty about the availability of electricity and the ability of ships to sail, the figures are still pretty impressive. Statian farmers are hereby encouraged to “keep it up.”
