Gov’t should build emergency food reserves

Claude Skelton Cline Commentator Claude Skelton Cline has called on the government to establish emergency food reserves and a distribution system to protect residents from global supply disruptions and natural disasters. Speaking on his Honestly Speaking radio programme, Skelton Cline urged the government to build warehouses and silos in elevated areas and stock them with non-perishable food. “The government of the Virgin Islands should be doing the same things for the people of this country. They need to be building some warehouses somewhere up in the hills, some silos, and stockpiling foods,” Skelton Cline stated. He said the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) should develop a territory-wide plan identifying where and when residents could collect emergency supplies.

“They need to activate DDM for a plan so that when in the eventuality A, B, C, or D happens, we have this thing set up in quadrants,” Skelton Cline stated. He suggested that the plan should divide the territory into distribution areas and assign collection times to residents in different districts. “In other words, get a plan. Here’s where you can go to get supplies. Here’s where you can go to get food. Here are the times you can go. Get a plan,” Skelton Cline stated. The call comes as the government pursues several measures intended to strengthen food security. Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said earlier this year that the territory imports most of its food and cannot achieve complete self-sufficiency. The government has approved negotiations with the Dominican Republic on a proposed agreement covering food security, trade and wider economic cooperation. It is also pursuing an agricultural complex at Paraquita Bay, including warehouse facilities for collecting produce from local farmers and supplying…