Nevis Hydro Gardens

ugh fruit tree crops forestation, (ii) water harvesting, conservation and use, (iii) sustainable land use practices and (iv) promotion of Agro-tourism through reliability and quality assurance. This concept is a direct response the denudation of the tree crop landscape, scarcity of potable water for the competing development interests of domestic consumption and irrigation needs, the depletion of the productive capacities of the farmlands without restoring the productive potential after successive crops, and the need for more local production of food crops to arrest the growing food import bill as well as earning more revenue from producing locally some of the crop imports used to feed the visitors to the country. The cross cutting themes of profitability and transferability of the technology are critical to the business model being suggested as explained in the individual components below. This is an attempt to expand the plant life especially fruit trees due to the incidence of the presence of new exotic diseases such as lethal yellowing, black sigatoga disease and the pink mealy bug. Selecting, planting and multiplication of high yielding, disease resistant local varieties and species of fruit trees are used a wind breaks while their fruits are sold to generate farm income and increased the nutritional requirements of the population. Water harvesting, conservation and use. This is the process of installing troughs to fixed buildings on the farm so that water caught during rainfall can be stored in containers and used for the day to day water needs of the farm. At the present time two four hundred gallon plastic containers are used and when filled released into one of two 1000 gallon nutrient tanks used in the hydroponics operations. An old 28,000 gallon water cistern will be retrofitted and used mainly as a storage source for the open field agriculture. At the present time over three acres are irrigated using pressure compensating drip irrigated. Sustainable land use practices. A process where the land is subdivided into terraces and further subdivided into crop production plots. The lands are mechanically prepared in large tracks and left to weather while pen manure and other organic matter are added prior to transplanting of crops. Our experiments show that crops which are planted in high organic matter soils are better retainers of moisture, have better root development and produce closer to their yield potential. The procurement of a commercial 15 horse power wood shredder and chipper with increase the efficacy of the operations. Promotion of Agro-tourism through reliability and quality assurance. The high quality crops are properly harvested, graded and sold to hucksters, supermarkets and tourist establishments.