CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (July 20, 2006)
The Department of Agriculture on Nevis announced plans to host a Fruit Festival, the first of its kind on Friday July 28, 2006, at the Villa in Charlestown.
According to Mr Eric Evelyn Communications officer at that Department, The event which will commence at 10 am and end at 5pm, will showcase all the available fruits on Nevis and their versatility in the form of juices and food. They will be presented as fresh, processed and dried fruit.
“The objective behind having this fruit festival is to highlight the versatility of the mangoes and various other fruits that we have available on the island. We will be showing persons how to prepare various dishes and drinks from the fruits,” he said.
He also encouraged persons to eat more locally produced fruit which would contribute to a healthy nation.
“We also want to encourage persons to consume a lot more fruit. Of course we want to be a healthy people and one way of being a healthy people is to consume more fruits. We are aware that persons consume a lot of fruits from overseas and we are encouraging persons to consume a lot more of the fruits which are available here on the island of Nevis,” he said.
According to Mr Evelyn, the fruits to be highlighted include mangoes, watermelons, honeydew melons, soursops, carambola, wax apples and papaya. He said that breadfruit and cassava, two other locally grown foods, though not fruits, will also share the spotlight.
The Communications Officer explained that as part of the activity, there will be a food court, which would provide a number of local dishes and drinks for the benefit of members of the public who wish to have lunch.
The Fruit Festival would also serve to promote the work of Nevis’ agro processors and highlight the work done by Mission Taiwan. There will also be a number of demonstrations in fruit preparation and a recipe booklet for sale.
“We have compiled a recipe booklet which will be showcasing a number of recipes from various fruits that are available on the island. Last year we had a booklet of mango recipes and that went extremely well. We will be having that recipe booklet again this year,” Mr Evelyn said.
He encouraged persons to engage in planting more fruit trees in an effort to stem the large importation of fruits.
“We are also encouraging persons to plant more fruit trees. A lot of fruits come from overseas and we are hoping that by people planting a lot more fruit trees, we will be able to cut down on the number of fruits that are imported into Nevis,” he said.