@GP……Furthermore,in my neck of the woods there’s no food that taste as good as food grown in that bajan dirt.

@Mike Ashby…….So what about the nutritional value of the gas-ripened food, is it the same as the sun-ripened?

@Ready Done……..Aquaponics, hydroponics and Greenhouse all have their place but do you have a problem with growing food the old fashioned way? What’s wrong with putting some root into the soil….it has brought many a human thus far.

@Johnny P……..Your comments @ 9:21 pm 6/3. I get the impression that you personally are not interested in growing your own food. Seem to detest what you and others see as hard work and the blackening sun.

But I’ll pay homage to Ra!
Anedj Herack Amon Ra!

Now we can get on with the ‘Gaw-blima! Yea Gran-mur and Gran-far had to work hard back then because this ‘hard-work’ in the hot sun has been brought to us by the white progenitors of slavery. The white man was not willing to till the land so they used black people to do such for no pay. Overtime they got a little pay but just enough to keep them poor and coming back. And that has been the legacy with field work. But to prove how important and exalted field work is…..let’s just get rid of them. All those who are under the illusion that they are smarter than the fieldworker, cannot live without the fieldworker but the fieldworker could surely live without them…so who is really smarter or of more value to a society? Give me the man who will feed me everyday to a lawyer or accountant and I know that fresh produce will keep me away for Georgie Porgie’s office.

Yes, there are still some Black Bajans who can still do it despite the highfalluting asses you see running the street to kentucky and cheffette and the other white-owned resturants. I have 2 cousins who grow their own produce on a small scale as well as neighbors from whom I get fresh milk and other produce. So all is not lost.

I too question the slave mindset of the entire bajan society. And it makes me rethink WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE! Because bajans do NOT fit into that mould. I see the majority as nothing but a bunch of mis-educated-uppity-wanna-be poor-grate niggers who live their lives thru a magazine or a tv show. Everyone would rather have a collar n’ tie job up in some air-conditioned office and run out to the restaurant and buy ‘food’ from ‘godknowswhere.’ What a sick, dumb, stupid bunch of sap-suckers whose only purpose is still to serve the white man because that’s all a service economy does. To those, again I say let them eat phu..ing crow!

Aquaponics as a science has the appeal to the Barbadian in general because in dealing with aquaponics you are now a “scientist growing food” not just a field worker.

Plus you is grow fish for eating right in your backyard.

In agriculture, the contribution from people at all levels is important, particularly large scale agriculture.

Take a look at how a plantation in the days of slavery was organised.

In 1817 all of the slaves in British Colonial Dependencies were registered.

In Barbados, their names, ages, occupations, colour (whether black or coloured) and whether they were born in Barbados or not were recorded.

It is interesting to see the order in which they were recorded on the large plantations and the roles they played in the day to day life of the larger plantation.

Typically, a large plantation had about 150 slaves at the time.

Males were listed first, females second.

Within the male grouping and female grouping, oldest came first.

Next were the specialised occupations.

In the male grouping, occupations like Ranger, Driver of the first gang, watchman, mason, carpenter, domestic etc. had precedence over age, but not always.

In the female grouping, occupations like driver of the second and third gang, nurse, cook, water carrier or domestic took precedence in order.

The bulk of the slaves followed and were divided by age.

Field slaves who made up the first gang were listed first. These slaves varied in age from 18-20 years of age up to over 60 years. Their leader/driver was a man usually in his 30’s or 40’s. Oldest usually listed first.

Both men and women made up the first gang.

The second gang was made up of ages from about 12 to the first gang age, both males and female and their leader/driver was an older woman, sometimes in her 60’s.

Oldest usually listed first.

The third gang ages ranged from 6 to 12 and their leader/driver was also an older woman. Both boys and girls belonged.

Oldest usually listed first.

Finally, children had few responsibilities. They probably remained in the care of their mothers or as a group with a nurse, usually an older woman.

Oldest usually listed first.

What is clear from looking at the listings of occupations on the plantations is how important each occupation was, from the carpenter and mason and boiler who kept the milling operations going, through the driver of the first gang, to members of the three gangs.

Large scale agriculture is a team effort.

In the case of sugar agriculture, the mill has to function for the boiler to do his job and if the canes aren’t delivered to the mill everybody might as well go home.

… and if the people who understand the seasons and the land and say what to do and when to do it are not present …. things will also fall apart,

…. and if the capitalist who puts together all the forces decided not to ….. also a show stopper.

One man or woman forking a piece of ground or owning a tiller does not translate to large scale agriculture …… but they can produce some sweet food.

Recent brake throuths in bio dirived plastics give us a chance to revive the sugar cane industry

They are making plastic from sugarcane now that means their is money in sugarcane.

A simple salt meat bucket with the lid on and a hole in the side with some bait in it is the best way to catch snails. them is go in and cant get back out and you dont be putting a lot of poison in the water path.

only thing is the bait is beer,

BUMMER,
less beer to drink,
stupes,

but funny thing is them like BANKS better than an other…..

@Ready-Done……Since when do you get off feeling better about yourself that you are now a aquaponist and not a mere field worker. If you don’t think that growing food in accordance with the laws of nature is a science then you still got a way to go. Isn’t that the same food that nurtured you to this point?

In order to get plastics, or sugar or ethanol from cane it is necessary to have a factory or factories.

When those factories exist, the land to feed them needs to be earmarked.

If the farmers and the factory work as a team, there may be success.

… but if there is arbitrary change of use permissions and no clear vision as to how the land should be used, it is all a waste of time.

No one man can supply a factory on his own, but teamwork works and this I think is what is missing in agriculture and I think it has been destroyed purposely and for personal gain.

The last “new” sugar factory built in Barbados is Portvale. Portvale is in St. James.

There is no cane in St. James!!!!

The only significant acreages in neighbouring St. Thomas is Applewhaites …. this is a high rainfall parish.

There is no cane in St. Andrew.

It is no surprise its closure is mooted, but how will cane from St. Peter and St. Lucy get milled?

… try it!!

This tread is not no different from the politicians that wanna chastising. Wanna should discuss solutions or talk bout something else.

This whole tread highlighting the same problems over and over, regurgitating the same bull every time.

Pointing fingers mussy gin solve the problem or at lest meck ya feel good bout your self.

Sit at wanna computer and try to figure out who kill agriculture and why. Give me two mins i going and feed my fish and see what ripe for the picking today,

I coming back now.

@RD……….Including your right?

@HOPI no body ent paying my aquaponics no mind so yes….

BUT

what needs to be done to get agriculture making money in Barbados?

@Ready-Done……..Don’t you think that the compensations of those who till the land to feed the nation should be on par or better than compromised, depraved,corrupt politicians, lawyers and accountants?

The Min of Agriculture needs to move beyond the traditional method of farming, instead we’re depending on the guyanese to farm for us at a price. These people are using so much chemicals in the soil that sometimes the fields refuses to produce, plus these people just don’t follow instruction. directions for use, they usually use much more than reccommended, all this is messing up our water supply.

Well Hopi, friend, I don’t see how the government could feasibly compensate the small farmer, what needs to be done is to set up a reliable avenue for distribution of produce. We get allot of tourist ships and planes here, who is supply these with food?

A major draw back is that farmers are not to fourth coming with their experience/information. Farmers don’t like to share what works and what doesn’t. A page or to in the news paper with the bestnewest practices in farming should be the norm. it might counter this type of thinking,

It might be in practice right now but i would like to see more detailed information on varying types of farming.

Something that would make the average person want to farm, i am not talking about a couple big size farms making all the money i talking bout getting normal people to see that a lime tree could replace a lady in the night or couple okras is take the same water as a ficus hedge.

you know that growing your own food is a viable way to ease your pockets.

Has any one done a study to show just how much money a ‘average’ kitchen garden can save a family over a year?

Real figures would help people to see farming is good.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJbqOqSdpx4&hl=en&fs=1&]

@Scout
Speaking of excessive use of chemicals by some farmers.One day I stopped at Tappy or Coot Pond in St George , just up from Sweet Vale to see if I could spot one of the very rare elusive Coot birds that have been mainly nestling there for many many years. I was shocked to see the amount of chemicals stored in a nearby shed/pumping station. The chemicals are pumped to other sites on the farm, mixed with water drawn from the pond. Leakages on the output side were evident, and fell back into the pond.
I hope that very soon that those on authority will make Coot Pond a Heritage /Protective Site in order to protect the decreasing population of Coots nestling there.

Ready Done
I remember being in Canada last yearand while visting afriend of mine, I saw that he was growing scotch bonnet peppers and large tomatoes in decorative pots right in his living room. This looked so unique, maybe, we can learn a thing or two from some of these experiences. We prefer to plant a dessert rose or a palm instead.

@ HOPI
“I too question the slave mindset of the entire bajan society.

“… it makes me rethink WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE!”
“… I see the majority as nothing but a bunch of mis-educated-uppity-wanna-be poor-grate niggers who live their lives thru a magazine or a tv show…”

” Everyone would rather have a collar n’ tie job up in some air-conditioned office and run out to the restaurant and buy ‘food’ from ‘godknowswhere…’ What a sick, dumb, stupid bunch of sap-suckers whose only purpose is still to serve the white man because that’s all a service economy does…”
===========================

Alas Hopi I can respond meaningful to your post. That is the clincher to the crux of Barbados’ perrenial problems. Our thinking, our notions, and how we plan are important pursuits. Unless we change this thinking, Agriculture will not have a hope in hell. All the high-fu-luted discussions in this and other forums will not remove the crux of the problem that keeps Barbados from progressive Agriculture in diversifed developmental way. Development of products with value added initiatives and research into markets demands for unique products must be the thinking forward. The cassava initiative is a good product idea but we must spend some money looking into other research potentials such as golden apples, hog plums, gooseberries all for the productioon of unique and exotic fruit juices. Alternative uses for yams and potatoes must be found. We must look into the potential of fish and its various internation niches to see where best we can tap into these markets for export. Agriculture must be diversified from what currently is to what possibly can be. But first we need a change from our small island thinking and plan way beyond our 166 sq ml shore. Our talking must now reflect funding to viable, meaningful research. Our people have already been invested into now we need to spend some millions into our food initiatives. In other words we need to put our money where our mouth is. My only concern with all of this is: are our researchers capable of delivering. The post by HOPI highlights why Barbados remains in box-like-thinking.

I just curious but right now i am growing 2types tomato, 2types corn, 2 types eggplant, 2types chives, lettuce, soy beans, 2 types okra, 2types melons& pumpkin. Tilapia fish.

What are you growing?

Start feeding your family and friends on the cheap, by working with nature –

http://www.viddler.com/explore/PermaScience/videos/3/

or for the wider view of our food future, this recent BBC video –

http://www.viddler.com/explore/PermaScience/videos/4/

@ Ready Done

I am running my mouth and hoping that policy makers would listen with attentive ears and act towards change. I am willing to contribute my high-fo-luted qualifications to advancing the causes in agriculture. That is why I return to this island to contribute; unfortunately I forgot that you must first go through alot of fustration, red tape, swore allegiance to some political party and have a complexion that tends towards white skin to get any possible recognition on this island.

However I believe that the government needs to establish a National Agricultural Standards Research and Monitoring Agency. There have been purports that such an agency was discussed in previous times but again just another lot of long time. To those who are embarking on their little science projects kudos to you; but we must not view agriculture as mere kitchen garden venture that satisfies our individual needs. We must look at the export potential of agriculture and see where we can make our mark in earning our keep.

Johnny Postle

de people wid de greenhouses (at Strong Hope?) ain’t got no “high-fo-luting” qualifications. Dem growing someting. People like Ready-Done may be engaged in ” little science projects ….” which ” satisfies our individual needs.” but dey growing someting. Maximum respect to Ready-Done and de others dat actually growing someting!! Wuh even me got a lime tree. But wuh Postle growing?

Plenty people long before Postle wid plenty high-fa-luting certifications pass through here before him, wid him and dey gwine keep coming long after him. Most just like him, paper giants and wind pie cooks. Postle list some obstacles to getting recognition but Contone ain’t white, belong to no political party, dint go thru no red tape and certainly aint have any frustration and he get plenty recognition. Forget recognition, we want to grow food. De first obstacle is having de willingness to get yuh hands dirty (literally not just figuratively).

As fuh me I gwine tek Ready-Done’s advice and see if I could get de lime tree to bear. De days getting hot and nothing sweeter than lemonade to cool off.

Ah Hopi-less

how much itals you grow in de concrete up dey in Nort Amerca! Yuh does be in panic if de 7-11 close fuh a holiday, yuh dun know!