NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 19, 2020) – Mr. Huey Sargeant, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture on Nevis has hailed the World Food Day activities held on October 12 to17, 2020, a success.

The week of activities were held under the theme “Grow, Nourish, Sustain, Together” and were meant to highlight the sector and the importance of food production on Nevis.

Mr. Sargeant thanked the general public for its support, Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) and the entire team at the Ministry of Agriculture for coming up with creative ways to highlight food security on the island.

“The Ministry would like to thank all of the persons that supported our week of activities in observance of World Food Day 2020. The main activities for the week were the farmers markets and food demonstrations with the

strategy of exposing the majority of the general public to the various meal options available using local items.

“I found the activities were very well executed and would have achieved the stated objectives, whether it was Multicultural Thursday, Grill Friday or Old Time Saturdays. We wanted to ensure that our food heroes were highlighted and that was also done. I want to congratulate the team led by Director Randy Elliot who worked to get the series of activities executed, and to thank

the Ministry of Tourism for its support in organizing our dining around where local dishes were prepared for sale by 11 participating restaurants,” he said.

One of the highlight events was the Ministers’ Cook-off between Mr. Jeffers and Premier Hon. Mark Brantley, which was held at the Cultural Village on October 17.

The participants had to prepare a meal using local ingredients, and were judged on the taste of their meal. Minister Jeffers was adjudged the

winner.

Mr. Sargeant described the cook-off as an excellent event that attracted a large number of patrons and had almost 2000 views on the live stream.

Mr. Brantley who is also the Minister of Tourism, congratulated the organizers of the week of activities, saying it was a “truly phenomenal idea which put our farmers and the need for us to grow more and eat more locally produced food front and center.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to these fun activities becoming a staple as we work together to ensure that Nevis can feed itself,” he said in comments to the Department of Information.

The Premier joined Mr. Sargeant in encouraging the general public to buy and eat local to ensure better food and nutrition security on Nevis.