World Food 2011 will be commemorated this Sunday, October 16 with a program at the University of St. Martin.
This event under the theme "Food Prices from Crisis to Stability" is organized by the Elwaldo Richardson Agricultural Memorial Foundation, the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunications (TEZVT) and the University of St. Martin (USM).
The World Food Day program begins at 11am with a formal ceremony and runs through 5pm with various demonstrations and exhibitions. Local farmers will also be present and attendants can purchase locally grown produce while organic food and drinks will also be on sale.
"Come let’s make a move to be self sufficient by empowering our youth to get involved with the new approaches to food production," said President of the Elwaldo Richardson Agricultural Memorial Foundation Jocelyn Richardson.
A working agriculture/aquaponics system has been set up at the USM to show participants how simple food production can be.
"Agricultural production today does not have to be hard labor in the hard sun, but rather a science on how to combine nature in order to enhance production," Richardson said.
Persons who are growing produce and have such for sale are also welcomed to contact Jocelyn Richardson if they are interested in participating in the World Food Day Program this Sunday.
The University welcomes the initiative and sees many possibilities for the youth of St. Maarten in regards to agriculture and food production. The wider community and especially students in the various schools are invited to come out and support this event.