In the Barbados Advocate Business Monday of October 18, 2010 Professor Avinash Persaud was quoted as making the asinine statement, “being food self-sufficient is unobtainable and anyone who believes otherwise is not being realistic’”. Who was Persaud referring to? What BU has been hearing is the need for Barbados to develop a food security plan. In 2008 former minister of agriculture Haynesley Benn intimated such a plan would be introduced in 2010. Minister Benn has subsequently moved on to another ministry the result of a Cabinet reshuffle – the promised plan may yet be delivered by Minister of Agriculture David Estwick.
Whenever the debate what is the best strategy Barbados should adopt for agriculture surfaces, the proponents are accused by Persaud and those of his ilk as romanticizing the sector. Successive governments have allowed agriculture policy to become stymied by the indecision whether to commit to a service base economy and or develop a feasible agriculture sector. The argument as always existed if we commit to a service based economy the opportunity exist to combine a limited intensive agriculture production with the number one productive sector.
While our governments continue to vacillate on whether to subsidized the agriculture sector (many of the world’s developed countries subsidize agriculture), it should be of interest to learn of recent developments which on the surface seem to be tangential to the issue of food security. On closer examination one can reasonable conclude there is a potential threat to global food security.
How many people are aware a company which calls itself Monsanto is the world’s largest manufacturer of genetically modified seed? It maybe ironic to some Monsanto is also the world’s leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as Roundup.
Multiple Internet sources confirm Wikipedia’s posting:
‘”Monsanto’s development and marketing of genetically engineered seed and bovine growth hormone, as well as its aggressive litigation, political lobbying practices, seed commercialization practices and “strong-arming” of the seed industry have made the company controversial around the world and a primary target of the alter-globalization movement and environmental activists. As a result of its business strategies and licensing agreements, Monsanto came under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department in 2009.”
To validate the political lobbying capability of Monsanto it was reported last week 10 out of 15 candidates funded by them in the recent mid-term election in the USA made it all the way to the US Congress and Senate. More scary is Monsanto’s willingness to hire “an arm of Xe (the mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater) to dig up dirt on anti-GMO activists.”
Against the foregoing BU is asking Barbadians and our policymakers alike to connect the dots. Yes we cannot be self sufficient in food but shouldn’t we implement an agriculture policy which seeks to mitigate our vulnerability?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.