Project Name：Agro-tourism Demonstration Farm Cooperation Project (St. Kitts and Nevis)

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Caribbean, St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis

Project Description：

Following the demise of the sugarcane industry and with the implementation of a land release policy, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis has made the development of the tourism industry a part of its vision for national development, as well as committed to strengthening the diversity of crops grown locally and to building an agricultural sector no longer reliant on sugar production, although this has proven difficult due to a lack of relevant experience within the country. In recent years, however, St. Kitts and Nevis has developed into a major tourist destination for sightseeing cruises, with as many as 150,000 tourists arriving per year — a figure which continues to rise. As part of this Agro-tourism Demonstration Farm Cooperation Project, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis intends to combine aspects of tourism and agriculture in order to attract further numbers of tourists and thereby raise employment and raise revenues.

Following project appraisal, it was noted that the biggest challenge for the government of St. Kitts and Nevis in integrating tourism and agriculture would be a lack of relevant experience and the absence of farms suited to receiving guidance and to undergoing a shift toward more tourism-oriented activities. As such, this project will start by establishing a whole new farm, proceed to incorporate tourism components, and then finally address the requirements set out by the government of St. Kitts and Nevis by engaging in agro-tourism.

The main purpose of this project, to assist St. Kitts and Nevis in establishing an agro-tourism demonstration farm, will involve establishing the farm’s operating systems, planning its zones, performing landscaping and design, and organizing and building the capacity of a St. Kitts and Nevis operations team. This will substantially enhance the country’s operating capacity and associated concepts relating to recreational agriculture and tourism development, and support agricultural development by upgrading the sector from a primary, production-based industry into a tertiary, service-based industry. It is also expected that the model developed through the agro-tourism demonstration farm will be able to be extended to other parts of St. Kitts and Nevis in the future.


To watch the video made by the TaiwanICDF: Agro-tourism Demonstration Farm Cooperation Project (St. Kitts and Nevis)

Implementation Start Date：2011-03-10

Implementation End Date：2014-12-31

Project Objectives：

The objectives of this project are:

1. Cultivate crops that can be used for tourism-related activities, with income generated from related products and services providing at least 25 percent of the project’s annual budget once commercial operations have commenced.
2. Design a 5-scales questionnaire to elicit feedback (at least 4.2 scales) from visitors about their experience at the Agro-tourism Demonstration Farm.
3. Provide training, aiming to facilitate full employment for all trainees, with one-third of trainees establishing their own agribusinesses and the remaining trainees finding self-sufficient work on farms or elsewhere.
4. Incorporate alternative energy systems into the farm site so that at least 20 percent of energy consumed at the site is provided by renewable sources.
5. Within five years of the opening of the farm site, establish two agro-tourism businesses that can operate by replicating the project as a model.
6. Increase profits derived from the farm’s commercial systems by 10 percent year on year in the three years leading up to post-evaluation, breaking even within six years of the project being handed over to local stakeholders.
   

Executing Agency：

Project Management Committee (PMC) (St. Kitts and Nevis)

Project Performance：This project aimed to integrated agriculture with tourism by establishing the St. Kitts Eco Park, which was expected to drawing more foreign visitors. It encompassed the setting-up of operations and management framework, the master plan and landscape design, and the training and capacity building for personnel of the Park. By the end of 2014, the construction work of the four major functional areas, namely the Activity, the Cultivation, the Administration and the Solar Demonstration, had been completed. Following this progress, the St. Kitts Eco Park commenced its trial operation.

Cooperating Stakeholders：Government of St. Kitts and Nevis