The island has made many important moves toward food security and economic diversification in recent years. While agriculture was once thought dead, it is now well and alive.
With weekly farmers’ markets, and more fresh produce, greens, mushrooms, honey, grapes, vegetables, some fruits, even fresh goat meat, we are making progress, and many more, brave and determined locals are attempting to dream the impossible dream, in the face of poor soil, and little water.
According to Minister Arends, last year in Curacao, at the first Dutch Caribbean Agro Visioning Conference, he met a number of growers and decided to get the islands together for an Agro Conference in Aruba, a brain storming session envisioning what agriculture could look like in the coming years, and what it would need.
This conference is taking place this week and yesterday delegates from Curacao, Bonaire, Saba, Statia, and St. Maarten toured the island courtesy of the Aruba Convention Bureau and Minister Arends, they visited a green house, HappyPonics, a bee and honey making farming center, The Aruba Bee Haven, a school with a flourishing garden, Princess Amalia elementary school running an Agroforestry pilot project, where students are taught to garden as part of the curriculum, a thriving goat farm, The Goat, and judging from delegates’ reactions, they were impressed by the great strides towards food availability made in Aruba.
The Agro island tour culminated with a Farm To Table lunch at Santa Rosa, where most of the dishes on the menu were sourced on the island, including some pitaya in the crème brulee dessert.
Santa Rosa, our agricultural station, Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, in the heart of the island, pitched a large white tent and served lunch in the shade, at a lovely decorated long table. According to the minister, Cunucu di Jimmy, where the pitaya grows, is now undergoing certification and will soon be able to market its delicious fruit widely.
The minister also signed an MOU this week, with Omega Engineering Curaçao, a company marrying technology and project management, in order to facilitate green house engineering and construction on the island, and implementing water and energy savings. .
The Dutch Caribbean Agro Visioning Conference II will culminate on Friday, with the signing of an agreement of collaboration among all islands.
Santa Rosa has been active here in teaching modern goat keeping, hydroponics and other aspects of agriculture in order to stimulate the locals to see the possibilities.
Student of EPI hospitality helped host the dignitaries from the neighboring islands. Chef Cesar Vasquez and his culinary students made lunch.
On the menu, cream of mushroom soup, papaya stoba, picked green and stewed, imported chicken, but who knows perhaps in the future we will grow our own, not just for eggs, concomber chikito stoba, a vegetable stew cooked with prickly endemic cucumbers, balchi pisca, fish patties from local catch and the famous cream brulee flavored with pitaya.
At the end of lunch the minister and delegates planted some fruit trees, at Santa Rosa, and sang kumbaya. Almost. It was a moment of unity and agreement, together, we can go far.
