Message to Ministry of Agriculture
I have been a breeder of both birds and dogs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the past 40 years. It is a business that helped send my children to university and introduced others to owning their own businesses.
The recent lifting of a 15-year ban on the importation of birds by the Ministry of Agriculture was laughable. Technical officers should at all times remember that when they execute their jobs, it impacts small poor operators like so many of us who depend on jobs to survive.
The same technical officers who help build our businesses all of a sudden seem to be awakened. Whose party is in office? This must be a joke with people’s business. Bird politics! It all adds up when a dog is brought into the mix. A former President of a sovereign country, very supportive of the ULP, had their security dogs detained, while we are aware that a known NDP politician was able to walk off with his dog. Dog politics!
The cattle farmers who benefited for years by having the opportunity to export cattle, as well as sell cattle locally, now are experiencing a ban on cattle export. Cattle politics! What is interesting further is that an uninformed Minister of Agriculture promoted the African Giant Snail as the next best export commodity, not only for trade but local consumption, without an ounce of expressed technical advice.
Thank God for Vincentians who researched and, without looking too far, realized that you should keep as far as the East is from the West from eating these snails. Has the Minister offered an apology as yet? Did the technical people say that they are eating snails and that it was okay for it to be advanced that we eat these snails? The politics of snails!
Everyone is free to support their party of choice. I don’t know of a politician who is depending on selling birds or dogs to survive. When persons placed into senior government positions may want to sabotage a government in the future, please remember that a small man is out there hoping to sell a puppy or a pair of birds to feed his family.
This advice goes to all technicians regardless of your political persuasion. As my grandmother would say, “Best wishes trying to see God’s face,” after making so many people suffer by your own selfishness.
