The government has decided to place remaining agricultural land into a trust to preserve it for food production, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said Saturday.

Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show, Browne said the arrangement would protect land for growing crops and raising livestock as development places pressure on areas previously used for farming.

“A decision has been taken to place the remaining agricultural land into a trust, an agricultural trust, to preserve those lots for our food security, for crop production, for animal husbandry as well,” he said.

Browne was responding to a question about urban expansion displacing agricultural land. He said the government was taking steps to control that process, although the trust arrangement had not been completed.

He did not specify how much land would be included, how the trust would be governed or when it would become operational.

The decision forms part of a broader effort to strengthen food security and reduce Antigua and Barbuda’s dependence on imported supplies.

Browne said the government was building ponds and dams to improve farmers’ access to water, while pursuing additional storage facilities and two abattoirs.

He also discussed reallocating agricultural land that was not being properly used, saying the ministry had identified hundreds of acres for reassignment.

At Diamonds, he said, some land would be made available to private farmers while the government continued producing crops on other sections.

“A portion of it will be parcelled out to farmers,” he said.

Browne argued that domestic production remained important even where food could be imported at competitive prices from countries such as Guyana.

“You still want to have some core domestic production,” he said. “That is how you achieve some level of food sovereignty.”

However, he cautioned that Antigua and Barbuda faced disadvantages in developing a large agricultural export industry, including water costs, drought and limited production volumes.

He said the immediate priority was to produce more food for domestic consumption, while acknowledging that some niche crops could offer export opportunities.

“Food security is a priority to produce as much food as we can to get as close as possible to become food-secured,” he said.

Browne said the government expected its investments to improve agricultural output over time, rather than deliver an immediate transformation.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Antigua and Barbuda plans agricultural trust to protect remaining farmland.