RADA

9 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 including black tanks, managing to deploy 2000 black tanks and 2000 irrigation kits. We also got support from the Moroccan government, which provided us with 24,000 bags of fertilizers. We also partnered with input suppliers who provided chemicals and seeds, especially for those farmers who suffered devastation from fire, drought, or flooding. These strong partnerships and the strategies we implemented allowed us to meet our clientele demands and achieve our targeted objectives for growth. Business View Magazine: What challenges within the agricultural sector is RADA working on alleviating for farmers? Winston Simpson: One of the biggest challenges farmers face, apart from the weather variances, is the cost of inputs, fertilizers, chemicals, seeds, and infrastructure like roads. Sometimes bad roads affect production, while financing challenges make getting loans at favorable rates difficult. Farmers also face equipment challenges, like having enough tractors and equipment to complete farming duties promptly and efficiently. Farmers also need modern technologies to assist their farming activities. These are all challenges RADA is actively working to mitigate in partnership with vendors, farmers, the government, and other state agencies. Business View Magazine: Going into 2023 and beyond, what are RADAs main objectives? Winston Simpson: Going into the next five years, our main objective as an organization is food security. To achieve this, we are looking at increasing the production of our main priority crops by a minimum of 5% annually. We want to push production increases in Irish potatoes, onion, cocoa, dasheen, strawberry, cassava, hot pepper, sweet potato, lemon, and pineapple.