Back in 2015, Saint Lucia and five other Eastern Caribbean islands
began the four-year process of conducting a soil fertility-mapping project, in unison with the Kingdom of Morocco and the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation. However, the implementation of this project hit a bit of a snag and so the Saint Lucian government requested a time extension. A Moroccan delegation, led by Ambassador Abderrahim Kadmiri, met with agriculture minister Ezechiel Joseph, accompanied by ministry experts assigned to the project, to confirm the acceptance of the extension request.
Said the minister: “I am thankful to the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco for agreeing to extend the project by one year. A lot of financial resources have been put into the project. We consider this project very important because we need to do the analysis at the field level so as to determine the type of composition as it pertains to fertilizer we recommend to our farmers.”
“Without accurate information,” he went on, “we’re just a spinning top in mud. That’s why we believe there’s a need to complete this project and, based on the analysis that I have heard this morning, I am confident that within the allocated time frame we can see to the completion of this project.”
For his part, Ambassador Kadmiri said: “It seems very, very positive progress has been made so far. For now we are very optimistic. Based on what we’ve heard this morning, everything will be concluded and implemented, at the latest, by August.”
