Above: Grenada (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Grenada’s Prime Minister is urging the country’s Agriculture Ministry to find ways of integrating science and technology into the agricultural sector as a means of improving productivity.

“We have the potential in Grenada to, once again, ensure that agriculture becomes a leading contributor to our economy and our country,” Prime Minister Tillman Thomas said last week. “While the other sectors of our economy are important, the issue of our ability to feed ourselves is extremely important.”

It follows a plan launched by Barbados in 2011 which aimed to explore way sot apply greenhouse technology to improve crop yields.

The Prime Minister pointed to periodic food shortages, rising prices and the quality of production as areas that must received further attention.

He was speaking last week at the 4-H Achievement Day celebrations at Grenada’s National Stadium, joined by Agriculture Minster Denis Michael Lett and Patrick Simmons, Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports.

Later this week, the country will culminate its Root Crop Festival, an initiative of the Agriculture Ministry, which looks to remind the country’s younger generations of the role played by root crops in Grenada’s traditions.

The ultimate purpose is to urge Grenadians to consider growing and using more root crops.