Oranjestad, St. Eustatius- The Public Entity of St. Eustatius is currently implementing a long-term strategy for sustainable agriculture.

One of the projects supporting this strategy is the introduction of an integrated approach for the removal of loose roaming livestock in combination with the development of sustainable livestock farming. An initial grace period of 6 weeks started Wednesday, October 21^st, 2020 during which farmers and animal owners are granted the opportunity to catch and deliver the animals to the slaughter house in large quantities.

Grace period

The farmers can decide during the grace period if they want to continue with animal husbandry and how many animals they want to rear. It also enables the stakeholders to make provisions to house the kept animals behind closed fences and to initiate preparation for sustainable animal husbandry. This is with the support and guidance of the Directorate of Economy, Nature and Infrastructure (ENI) of the Public Entity. During the initial grace period special incentives for farmers and animal owners apply. These include reduced fees for fencing materials, financial compensation equivalent to the slaughter fees, increased meat prices when selling and access to other subsidized materials.

Evaluation

Close to the end of the grace period an evaluation will be done to check the success of the introduced measures. An extension of the grace period will be directly related to this evaluation. After the grace period and a possible extension of the grace period, the first phase will commence. This entails the removal of loose roaming animals in the urban area and Boven National Park Statia. In the second phase other parts of the island will be subject to the same approach. The project of removing animals is financed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Public Entity of St. Eustatius.

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