Agriculture officials recognise 2021 as international year of fruits and vegetables

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By Theresa Goodwin

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The Minister of Agriculture has partnered with the Ministry of Health and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to launch a series of activities designed to promote 2021 as the international year of fruit and vegetables, in an effort to boost food production through innovation and technology and to reduce waste.

The campaign, which ties in with the ministries’ ‘Buy Local, Eat Local’ initiative, is also designed to raise awareness about the important role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, food security and health.

Agriculture Minister Samantha Marshall said the campaign will include a series of videos with some familiar faces promoting the benefits of fresh produce.

Just this week the ministry launched “Fruity Tuesday” on its social media pages as part of the year-long campaign.

“As part of the sensitisation campaign we will be having Fruity Tuesdays and Veggie Thursdays where you will see different people promoting the types of fruits and vegetables that should be focused on. We are even looking at promoting it from the angle of fruits that are in season.

“It’s an effort for us to promote the entire effort of grow local, eat local, buy local,” Minister Marshall said.

She revealed that Calypso legend Sir MacLean “Short Shirt” Emanuel will be working along with the ministry to produce a medley to be used as the theme song for the venture.

“Some years ago, he did a song for the ministry to promote the ‘buy local’ campaign and we have asked him to do a little bit of modification to the song which we will be using to promote the campaign.

“We also have some well-known faces in the country who will also be helping us during this period,” Minister Marshall said.

She stressed that the initiative will further cement the need for residents to appreciate homegrown crops and the importance of supporting local farmers.

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