St. Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and European Union (EU) Ambassador, Daniela Tramacere, on 25 June opened the Montreal Greenhouse Park which was financed at a cost of EC$4.7 million under the EU's Banana Accompanying Measures Programme.
The Park will be used as a platform to produce and sell vegetable seedlings to farmers, as well as purchase produce from these producers, and will also target large-scale operators and enhance knowledge transfers to adapt to new technologies.
The ultimate aim is to increase the production of fruit and vegetables to initially satisfy domestic demand and ultimately export requirements.
EU Ambassador to the Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Daniela Tramacere said: "The establishment of the Montreal Greenhouse Park represents our vision of reviving agriculture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and also making it competitive, sustainable and able to satisfy not only local demand for produce but also external demand such as the cruise industry and neighbouring islands".
The Park will be operated by producer groups through management leases and these groups will be empowered through an incubation programme to produce and market the selected commodities, based on a business and marketing plan.
Under the Banana Accompanying Measures Programme St. Vincent and the Grenadines was allocated EC$31 million which went towards the construction of feeder roads as well as improvements to the agricultural infrastructure of the island.