MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falkland Islands Development Board meeting.
The Falkland Islands Development Board met at the Chamber of Commerce this morning.
Members heard that artificial insemination and embryo transfer expert Adrian Veech will arrive next week for two weeks of work with farmers. Mr Veech will carry out sessions at four sites ? Saladero, Goose Green, Cape Dolphin and West Lagoon. Two thousand ewes will receive AI, with 364 embryo transfers taking place, mostly Polwarth.
The committee looked at proposals for a new system of calculating the lending value of farmland in the islands, based on its historical profitability. It was controversial with members who feared the new calculations would result in much lower lending valuations, and could in turn affect the market value of land. Roger Spink said that it would at least avoid saddling farmers with levels of debt they couldn't afford to repay. Members agreed that at this stage they would only note the proposals, and they asked to see some examples of how they would have affected loan applications they have decided on in the past.
FIDB also agreed to transfer the national beef herd from FIDC to the agriculture department on July 1st, along with the breeding reindeer herd. Tenders for the castrated reindeer herd are due to close on Friday. There was a paper on separating the boards of FIDC, FLH and the department of agriculture. Members agreed that they would send a paper to ExCo with recommendations for the make up of each board.
There was a heated debate about the new door locking system on the FIDC building, which has been installed since introduction of private offices downstairs. Amara Doyle said the system was necessary to guarantee the security of clients' confidential business information but many members felt it was over the top for a low crime community like the Falklands. They suggested they General Manager Julian Morris might like to reconsider the use of such heavy security when he returns from overseas.
Finally, members also noted directions from the Government Secretary that matters arising from previous minutes can only be discussed in committee meetings if they are on the agenda. Chairman Councillor Mike Summers said: "Many of us find this unnecessarily restrictive and overly bureaucratic. The reason, I understand, is that members of the public should be entitled to know what's going to be raised at open meetings beforehand. It's unfortunately a result of some nitpicking by some members of the public in the past as to how meetings have been run."
Chief Executive Chris Simpkins confirmed that an amendment to the current rules would go before LegCo shortly.
Source: FIBS
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