by Linda Straker
- Peter David will head Ministry of Agriculture as of 1 October
- Welcomes opportunity to engage with agriculture and farmers
Minister Peter David who will be heading the Ministry of Agriculture as of 1 October 2020, has described the move as an advancement to both his personal determination and his professional aspiration.
“I personally see it as an elevation in terms of my mission going forward because all of us as ministers are equal in the Cabinet,” David said in an interview where he shared his view on the recent reshuffle of the Cabinet. “But in terms of the task, I now see it as a new challenge, a new place for me to show my talent.”
David is of the opinion that those who see his new ministerial portfolio as a demotion are insulting the sector which is playing a significant role in the development and economic activities of the country. “Anybody who sees this as a demotion is insulting the sector…and I will urge them to retract and withdraw the statement.” David will continue to serve as the Foreign Affairs minister until he takes the oath of office for the new ministerial portfolio.
Explaining that he views the new portfolio as an opportunity to focus more deeply on domestic policies, David said that he has spent many years in Foreign Affairs looking at agriculture and asked the Prime Minister to allow him to serve in that capacity since 2017.
“Despite the fact that I was at Foreign Affairs, I was working to enhance the diplomatic domestic conditions. Now I have an opportunity, an opportunity that I welcome to engage with agriculture, to engage with our farmers, to engage with all of the persons in the sector, the old people involved, the young people involved,” he said.
David said that since Prime Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, made the announcement last Sunday, he has received many calls with people sharing ideas for improvement of the agriculture sector and the various sub industries linked directly to agriculture. “But there is only one agriculture minister at any given time, so I will await until I am the minister to meet with the people,” he said.
In his national address to announce the cabinet reshuffle, the Prime Minister said that the Cabinet changes are intended to give members an opportunity to broaden their experience and to bring a new outlook to the area of government service. “This Cabinet reshuffle entails a mix of changes, in addition to reassigning ministers to different ministries, portfolios. In some instances, I have separated their portfolios including some instances with ministerial assignment and place them with others,” he said.
“This Cabinet reshuffle will enable all performance by allowing us to build on the progress made and to solidified our achievement to date while solidifying our achievement to date while creating a springboard for future development,” he said in the preamble before announcing the changes.
So what is this minister going to do now to solve our critical problems and change our condition, which he did not do over the years
The time before this, I saw him in the news alongside steel accepting free mask from India and prior to this commending China. There goes you great problem solver.
Wake up Indigenous Grenadians?
Peter is the man for them. He well take care of them. I have got great faith is this man he is one of the good guys.
Grenada needs more home grown produce for consumption. We also need a programmes that help reduce food waste by canning, bottling and preserving processes to enable produce to be recycled for consumption at home and abroad. Such programmes will also create employment in the manufacturing/processing sector. It is time we up a gear and allow our farming industry to go beyond the Marketing Board.
If minister David can erase this negative mind that our people have of farmers and agriculture as a whole he would have taken us to the promise land.