Agriculture Minister and All Saints West MP Anthony Smith announced that the government has opened a dedicated heavy-duty equipment department within the Ministry of Agriculture, a move he said will significantly expand the ministry’s ability to clear land, build farm roads and support farmers across the country.
Smith told Parliament that the government “would have invested millions of dollars for us in the Ministry of Agriculture… to open our own heavy-duty equipment department”. He said the fleet will include “excavators, front-end loaders, bulldozers, bako, rollers, trucks, and trucks”.
“We will have all the equipment in the Ministry of Agriculture to be able again to work a modern ministry,” he said.
Smith said the new machinery will allow the ministry to handle a wide range of field work that previously depended on the Ministry of Works. “The machines will allow us to mine our own material, build and repair farm roads, construct ponds, clear lands for farmers,” he said.
He added that four new tractors are also on the way to expand land-preparation support. “We have been repairing all our tractors. And we have four new tractors underway for the Ministry of Agriculture again to offer support for the farmers,” he told the House.
Smith said the investments are intended to help resolve longstanding bottlenecks in soil preparation, land access and water management. “These equipment will help us to address issues such as the water availability, the transportation, the market access… clearing lands for our farmers [and] using the tractors to prepare lands for our farmers,” he said.
He described the creation of the department as part of building a foundation for long-term sector growth. “Developing the infrastructure within agriculture… is ensuring long-term growth in the agriculture sector by attracting private investment,” Smith said.
