St. Lucia moves to protect banana farmers

In a move that has been described as historic by banana industry stalwarts, the government of St. Lucia has delivered on its commitment to acquire the shares of the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC) in the regional export company Winfresh.

The acquisition of SLBC’s 20 percent shares in Winfresh at a cost of EC$26.26 million (US$9.7 million) was secured by government after the Corporation went into voluntary liquidation.

Agriculture Minister Honourable Ezekiel Joseph says the decision was taken to protect the interest of St. Lucia.

“We believe that the farmers of St. Lucia have worked hard to develop SLBC. It would have been unfair for them if the government of St. Lucia did not give support to secure the shares of that company in the interest of agriculture in St. Lucia,” he said.

“We have said in Cabinet we are not going to give any single company these assets but we are going to place them in a holding company where every farmer whether banana farmers or farmers in crop production would benefit from the dividends paid by Winfresh.”

In acquiring the new shares, the government has effectively added to its 12.5 percent shares to a total of 32.5 percent shares in Winfresh.

Minister Joseph says government is eagerly looking forward to acquire 177 acres of prime agricultural property in the Dennery Valley known as the Ramju Lands.

“Soon we will be engaging the liquidators to negotiate a price for these lands. The reason why government is again trying to secure these lands is to ensure that the lands in the Dennery Valley remain for agricultural purposes. I think it is important especially for food security and by so doing to secure the future of the people presently farming the lands down there.”

Along with the pending acquisition of the Ramju Lands in Dennery, the new shares acquired by the government will be put into the St. Lucia Agricultural Holding Company which has a mandate to manage the acquired assets of the SLBC in an manner that protects the interest of the agricultural community and the entire nation.

Source: Caribbean360