CI$1M set aside to spur on farmers
(CNS): Agriculture Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly is appealing to residents to take-up backyard farming after setting aside CI$1 million to support their endeavours. Describing backyard farming as an excellent way of ensuring food security and good health, she urged registered farmers to take advantage of the agricultural grants under the COVID-19 Farmers Assistance Programme.
“The Ministry of Agriculture has set aside one million dollars to ensure that our farmers, especially those negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, gain access to seeds, fertilisers and other essential agricultural input,” she said.
“Through the provision of these funds, we hope to stimulate increased agricultural activity, increase backyard enterprises and provide greater quantities of fresh, high-quality produce and livestock to satisfy the growing needs of the people of the Cayman Islands,” the minister added.
Araunah Powery, one of the farmers she visited last week, recently reaped pumpkins weighing over 200lbs from his backyard garden, with the largest weighing over 30lbs. He encouraged others to become involved in backyard farming.
“We must get into the habit of growing our food and become more self-reliant,” he said.”It does not require much. All that is needed is good soil, and a small piece of land, and the Cayman Islands are blessed with both.”
For more about backyard farming, contact the Department of Agriculture at 947-3090. For more about the COVID 19 Farmers’ Assistance Programme, contact MEYSAL Deputy Chief Officer Wilbur Welcome at 926-3146 or Senior Policy Advisor Demoy Nash at 927-0753.
Photo caption: Araunah Powery presents Minister of Agriculture Juliana O’Connor-Connolly with a pumpkin while Senior Policy Advisor Demoy Nash looks on.
Category: Agriculture, Business
How do i apply for the farmers assistance grant? (A struggling farmer).
I mailed heirloom seeds to my friend once, it never arrived. Still waiting for the returned mail. It has been 3 years already.
I hope Elvis gets some funding.
This is great for people who are wanting to work towards being more self-sufficient when it comes to food production on their own land. Our family has been lucky enough to recently get solar panels, have various fruit trees planted, veggies producing well, a few egg-laying chickens and soon a well for irrigation water which can be used in a pinch for other domestic purposes. We only have one income, live in an area that used to be a swamp and are far from rich. This money will go along way to helping us towards our food security goals.
Anyone with a backyard gone grow a lot of food for themselves…you just have to get off the couch. Heck, the government is throwing free money at you to do it! It will by no means make us vote for PPM though!
All that glitters is not gold.
Auditor General needs to have eyes on this slush money and account for every cent that goes out to recipients. We are entering a vey dangerous time where desperate people will be voting for every numb skull, conning politician that promises them a free lunch.
It is my understanding that this program involves making available agricultural advice and agricultural inputs like feed and fertilizer, not the handout of cash as some seem to be suggesting. If that is the case then it is to be commended.
Anything that increases the local food supply is a good idea in my book. It is ridiculous that we have become so dependent on long supply chains to source food from overseas when it can be produced locally and tastes much better than what is imported.
I totally agree that supporting local farming is a positive thing but It’s called a vote for a favour in kind. The timing and optics of this are terrible and leads people to suspect vote buying. Many people making these accusations have seen it all and especially what goes on leading up to an election. The minister involved in this has done favours for people before what makes you think she won’t repeat again especially prior to an election? When there’s free money flying around before an election just watch and follow the gravy train. I’d bet my last $ that it ends up in the hands of those who don’t need it and or those who don’t deserve it.
Farming outside without some sort of enclosure protected from bugs and excessive solar radiation is a must. This was not the case years ago when there were fewer pests, some the like of which have never ever been seen before in Cayman. Who might be responsible for this? Certain developers and nurseries don’t seem to have the same hoops to jump through with phytosanitary certs as non established ones or Joe Public for that matter. Ergo the use of more pesticides locally some of which are banned in other jurisdictions. The DEH or DoA do not have the resources to test local produce for pesticides so no one really knows what they are ingesting. You don’t need a licence to import or use these chemicals. Some that are using them don’t have any proper training and some can’t even read. There is therefore a very real threat from farmers being irresponsible with chemicals that are slow poisons, but I’m digressing here. I hope some of this money is allocated to doing proper due diligence to ensure our local crops are indeed safe.
You speak with much knowledge.
Also, neither is there “safe-to-eat” testing of imported produce nor a consumer protection agency of any type.
Persons would be horrified at what they ingest on a daily basis.
Sad, but true …
Organic produce can’t be grown in Cayman. Mosquitoes aerial control and the Dump make it impossible. Even fruits on trees are affected. However nobody ever checked on accumulation of toxic substances in locally grown fruits, let alone plants and meat.
This implies you have a backyard to farm.
No house, no grow.
So many politicians and civil servants run hobby farms (including the Premier) and all take advantage of subsidised supplies from the Dept of Agriculture including free land clearing, yet these people can well afford to meet their own expenses.
Peculation in action folks.
This is how you harvest votes.
Election coming…
More vote buying money for JuJu to dish out to her flock.
69.42% of JuJu’s constituents are family members. Don’t even have to buy them.
This is why I opposed OMOV. A cronyism monopoly for candidates whose family happens to dominate the area.
Yes, I bet Jon Jon got his whole tribe vaccinated.
Even the donkey?
Further to that, no one has shown up to viably oppose her.
The Government started a back yard gardening program several years ago that I thought was a great idea. I ordered about a dozen seed packets to make my home garden. When the seeds arrived the lady in the post office informed me that I had to pay duty on them, which was more than the cost of the seeds. I told the postal worker that was ridiculous and that she could have the seed. She said she couldn’t do that. I walked out, leaving her the seeds. I hope she had a nice garden.
What happened to the seeds?
This is a good initiative.
Why did it take her do long? She visited agriculture and food show in Jamaica in August 2019.
Every year she go to the show in Jam. And these islands are no better off for it.
… and Kenya. 🙁
4.29pm I bet that did not cost $48,000.
One never knows, does one…..?
I love how to find out about the government programme you’ve got to call the staff’s cell phones. Real professional.
I know what I want to grow in my back yard.
When is she going to start eating healthy food? She looks very unhealthy.
Strangely enough the “Speaker” is now going into farming.
I would be happy to tell him where to go!
small piece of land is required.. luckily land prices are reaming the average joe looking to buy something in Cayman.
Yeah. Soon going to be a lot of backyard “farmers” growing some of that good good.
Lol I already grow my own herb. Can’t bother buying the brown crap they bring in from Jam every week.
Juju legalize it so I can pay you some sales tax na
Personally know of a tour operator who has been feeding his family by selling homegrown weed. No joke – do the math – he started planting inside a spare bedroom right after lockdown.
We need open minded politicians who see the medical and economical value in the herb. No Weed, No Vote!
Greatjob Julie
Curious how many registered farmers there are, I went to the DOA website for the official count, and found another Ministry site that hasn’t been updated since 2016.
http://doa.gov.ky/portal/page/portal/agrhome/what-we-do/services/agriculture-sector-data
Loop Cayman lists 18 Farmers with crops to sell:
https://www.loopcayman.com/content/cayman-here-are-local-farms-sellingdelivering-fresh-produce
KYD$1,000,000/18 = KYD$55,555 each.
That’s gotta be worth a few votes!?!
It is true that the website is out of date.
It is also true that there are far more than 18 people engaged in farming in Cayman, none of whom are getting rich and most of whom are barely getting by if they are still solvent.
There is no cash being distributed. This program is intended to assist farmers whose livelihoods have been destroyed get back into production. How can that be a bad thing.