§ 17. Mr. Royleasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what proportion of the cultivable land is actually under cultivation in St. Lucia; and what further steps are being taken.
§ Mr. ProfumoAbout 35 per cent. is fully cultivated. To ensure more adequate cultivation of the remainder is largely a problem of improving peasant agriculture. To this end, schemes financed from Colonial Development and Welfare funds provide for agricultural extension staff, who assist by advice and demonstration, and for a variety of other agricultural development activities. Another recently approved scheme will provide agricultural credit which has up to now been the main lack.
§ Mr. RoyleDo not those figures prove that there is a lack of development in all these Leeward and the Windward Islands, and is it not time that more progress was made? Cannot the Colonial Development Corporation, particularly in view of the fact that we gave it some more money a fortnight ago, do something more about these groups of islands?
§ Mr. ProfumoA considerable proportion of St. Lucia's allocation under the 1955–60 Colonial Development and Welfare Act, which was a generous one, has been or is being devoted to productive schemes. The problem is not only one of money, but also of changing established attitudes.