St Lucia’s Agriculture Minister Alfred Prospere announced on Monday that St. Lucia now exports bananas to Trinidad and Tobago, following the suspension of commerce with the United Kingdom earlier this month.
Speaking to the media before the weekly Cabinet meeting, Prospere rejected claims that the Phillip Pierre administration was responsible for the demise of the industry.
“However, they never included the most crucial aspect of my remark, which was that immediately after this decision was made, the exact same quantity of bananas was diverted to Trinidad and Tobago,” Prospere said, adding that the UK trade suspension had no negative effect on local growers.
“We are still shipping those 1,000 boxes to Trinidad,” Prospere said, adding that the local authorities are working with a Trinidad & Tobago supplier to supply an extra 3,000 boxes of local bananas to the Republic of the twin-island nation.
“The point I’m making is that we are not in a position where the thousand boxes of fruit destined for the United Kingdom are halted because our farmers would be unable to harvest their crops. Their fruits are still in the process of being gathered and exported.
“Therefore, I want to make it known to the public that the situation in which we had to cease exports to the United Kingdom has been resolved, and those fruits are now being exported to Trinidad and Tobago,” he added.
Source: St Vincent Times