March 27, 2011 -- President James Michel visited the Seychelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre at Anse a la Mouche on Friday, as  part of a series of visits to post-secondary education institutions which started last year.

The President was accompanied by the Minister for Education, Employment and Human Resource Macsuzy Mondon, , the Principal Secretary for Education Merida Delcy, the Principal Secretary for Natural Resources Michel Nalletamby, the Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Agricultural Agency Antoine-Marie Moustache, and the Director of the SAHTC Georgie Belmont.

" The work that the students are doing is impressive but we need to put more resources into upgrading of certain infrastructure. What these students are learning is very important for the country. With the oil and financial crises that the world is experiencing , as well as climatic changes and natural disasters,  food production and food prices are affected, so that is why we need to work hard to ensure our food security by increasing our production capacity. We need to develop our human capacity in the agricultural field.... and encourage young people to take an interest in this field," said President Michel.

 

The President met and spoke with the students of the SAHTC while they were working in the vegetable production unit as well as the livestock unit, and spoke to them about the importance of their future careers for the food security of the country.

"We have started to put more resources into agriculture. Now with the credit facility that we are offering through the banks, with low interest rates, it will help many more people to start new businesses, including livestock and farming... Government will be putting into place a credit guarantee scheme that will make it much easier for farmers to get loans with the Development Bank of Seychelles...I take this opportunity to congratulate farmers around the country for the good work they are doing," said President Michel.