Chief Plant Protection Officer looks forward to heavy turn- out at GAS Town Hall meetings
4TH November 2019
Chief Plant Protection Officer looks forward to heavy turn- out at GAS Town Hall meetings
Chief Plant Protection Officer, Dr. Janil Gore-Francis said that she is looking forward to a full turn-out at the Town Hall Meetings on the Giant African Snail (GAS), which kicks off tomorrow evening at the Glanville Secondary School at 6pm.
Dr. Gore- Francis said that the meetings are designed to get members of the various communities on board to have a successful system in place to manage the GAS.
“We have to get a system in each community to do what is required regularly in order to have success in managing the Giant African Snail, this is very important,” Dr. Francis stated.
The chief Plant Protection Officer within the Ministry of Agriculture said that the team will be sharing pertinent information on all aspects of the GAS so that the public can fully understand its existence and how they can assist in eradicating the invasive species.
She is encouraging the general public to come out in their numbers and learn more.
Dr. Francis said that apart from the various communities which are listed on the schedule, she is also appealing to operators of heavy duty vehicles/equipment, persons who transport gut sand and top soil and road-side cleaners to attend the GAS town hall meetings, as it also concerns them as well.
All the GAS town hall meetings begins at 6pm.
On Thursday 7th November, the GAS will team will be at the Newfield Primary School then on Tuesday 12th, the Liberta Primary School will be the venue for the next meeting.
On Thursday 14th November, the GAS Awareness team will meet members of the public at the Jennings Secondary School , while Monday 18th November, the town hall meeting moves to the Sir McChesney George Secondary School in Barbuda.
The series of GAS Town Hall meetings winds down with a meeting on Tuesday 26th November at the Cedar Grove Primary School while the final one will be held on 28th November at the Multipurpose Cultural Center.
“Community Participation for eradication of the Giant African Snail in Antigua and Barbuda”, is the focus of the Town Hall Meetings which is a project of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The organization is supporting the Ministry of Agriculture in the management of the Giant African Snail (GAS) through strategic technical approaches that involve the local communities.