Dear Editor,
Please allow me some space in your newspaper to address the Parliament of Country St. Maarten on the subject of a petition to:
* Establish a permanent committee in parliament for the Agricultural sector
* Instruct the incoming government to establish a full-functioning department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.
It was announced recently on radio by the Section for Agriculture of the Development Bank that St. Maarten is the only country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands that doesn’t draw on funds available for agricultural development, because there is no functional department and no policies.
An Agriculture Department would act as the intermediate for linkage to these funds. This department would be responsible for gathering information and formulating policies based on assessment gathered.
There have been numerous conferences and discussions on diversification of our one- pillar economy, and every time it was suggested that the development of this sector could add to the productivity of our economy, but there has never been a conscious research on how this could and should be approached.
This is because in our government organization there is no recognized Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (LVV). There is a lot of evidence that many individuals and various organizations, which have shown aspiration of getting involved in this sector as a hobby and on a commercial basis.
All the schools on the island would benefit from this, as a means of keeping students more aware of where food comes from and how we can grow something for ourselves and be more self-sufficient.
For this reason, we are having this signature drive to let the public decide by means of a petition.
Joslyn Richardson, President
Elwaldo Richardson Memorial Agricultural Foundation
