Virgin Gorda Agricultural Station

EDITORIAL 

If you thought that the audit report focuses solely on what goes wrong in the various government departments you will be surprised to learn that our Chief Auditor, Mrs. Sonia Webster has also made a few positive findings. In her report for the year 2001, she found that Virgin Gorda is considered to be the one bright spot in Agriculture in the BVI "and this is evidenced by the substantial increase in active farmers which have increased from 34 in 1994 to 194 at present." In examining the situation on the sister island, Mrs. Webster noted that the station manager of the Virgin Gorda office serves in various capacities and the whole operation is run with a modest budget of $20,000 per annum. 

The manager credits the achievements on Virgin Gorda to the adoption of a more proactive approach and the careful coordination of activities with the local farmers and buyers. "The island has benefitted from young, ambitious farmers who see agriculture as an opportunity and are eager to embrace it with all the amenities of modern farming techniques available to them," Mrs. Webster pointed out. The land for agricultural use is limited and the manager has expressed some concern about competing with other industries for land which would otherwise be used to build hotels and apartments. 

The skyrocketing prices for real estate on Virgin Gorda have influenced land owners to prefer selling to developers because of the immediate gain. The budgetary limitations affect the Virgin Gorda Agricultural Station and the expansion of agriculture on that island. There is also a  need for a facility for artificial insemination, a veterinary assistant and furthermore a farm supervisor to ease the work load of the station manager and to supervise crops and seedling production.