Dear Source:
We complain about food prices now, wait until the impact of this cold winter in the East and the draught and fires in the West effects Agriculture.
Farmers in Action had proposed years ago, as part of their Bethlehem Restoration Project, to build both a cannery and food processing plants with refrigeration.
Look at the amount of fruits that waste on the ground on this island alone. The argument is and has been that we do not produce enough produce to make it work, profitable. What about Sustainability?
There are processing companies all over the world buying and selling tropical fruits and produce. The entrepreneurs here should be able to partner with other Caribbean farmers to be able meet the market demand and to make the process profitable.
The cannery/processing plants here would be offered the opportunity to market organic, value added, processed products placing them on the shelves along with all of the other businesses. Cannery/processing plants would also give value to produce with blemishes that would be discarded.
Ivan Butcher II
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands