I do not believe that we in the Caribbean are paying enough attention to what is happening (what has happened!) to our soil, therefore our foods, and in saying this, our health. The time has come NOW or it will be too late to get our Ministry of Agriculture to take a serious look at companies like Monsanto and what they produce. We, the people, need to ensure that our health is protected by saying “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!”. Bad enough we are allowing food imports from America that are proven to be devastating to our health. Bad enough that we are also importing products that we are embedding in our soil that will take years and years to get rid of, and plants grown in that soil that provide us with food we want to eat locally will also be carrying all manner of chemicals that will simply kills us, and if not us, certainly our children. AND WORSE ENOUGH is this new finding about Monsanto…read this article from top to bottom!!! If there is anyone reading this blog from the Ministry of Agriculture, please, please do us the people who believe in you a big favour because you really do love us, and STOP THE IMPORTATION OF ANYTHING FROM MONSANTO NOW. And if you do not love us enough to do it, perhaps you might consider how much love you have for your own family, you wife, your children, your grandchildren and their children’s children and do it for them…because it your decisions today, in the present, that will affect their future.

The video above shows what a family can do, and whilst I am not one for saying that we must all give up our jobs, and create and edible farm around us…the way these people live in the video above? if a quarter of what they are doing, we would do – life would be a better place here. Nothing wrong with greening with edible. And not just around homes.

I once designed a restaurant and planted edible plants, placed local name and botanical names on each, so that when visitors or local children passed by, they could recognize the various fruits such as banana, pawpaw and herbs such as thyme, parsley etc. and figured that the restaurant would benefit from these plants too. Yes! This was in Barbados and I will not disclose where for obvious reasons… but let us say that to add insult to injury it is a government-run or government body-run area.

When I first suggested planting food, not only around this particular restaurant but all over the complex, I was met with shock, horror and dismay “people will steal and eat the produce” I was told. Immediately a negative reaction. “So what?” was my reply…but that did not go down well either. “It is better to feed the people than to have them steal.” Well by then alarm systems had gone off big time and I guess I was considered a nut from then on….who knows and who cares! By the way I was not suggesting planting only food, but a good mixture of both ‘pretty’ and ‘functional’…even went as far as a Botanical Garden with a Herbs & Spice Section – beautiful large trees indigenous to the islands, and food. A green space eco-sustainable space to be enjoyed by all.

As I had hoped, while we were putting the finishing touches on the restaurant building, visitors stopped, read the signs and I heard them remarking how wonderful, they had never seen a real banana plant before, and wow! look at the papaya.

The restaurant finished, we handed over the keys, garden now actually producing and all. Within a week the plants were replaced by management of complex and perhaps even restaurant with non-edible “pretty” plants…the gazebo with passion fruit that was to climb the poles and make for a green fruity area? replaced with small pretty non-edible flowers. I have never been on those premises again. I was the one filled with shock, horror and dismay.

I do believe that if just a quarter of the “cute exotic” plants we have on this island, just around government offices, around the private sector and around homes were turned into “cute exotic edible”, this alone could help the country tremendously…

But right now….most importantly….and particularly because the land mass of Barbados is so small…the soil requires help and Monsanto needs to be kept out. They can use their terrorist ways in the US but surely they can do Barbados nothing if it decides to ban them from selling here…I mean, I guess the most they could do is not allow us to import other American goods and that would certainly work in our favour especially if it is to do with food.

To say that it is too late…is NOT good enough. It is never too late. BAN the products and begin the cleaning up process slowly – it can be done. It does not take a rocket scientist to know how to do it…information is available from our own organic farmers (like Mr. Hunte), certainly the Ministry of Agriculture (although I heard from a farmer that one of their officers told him to use imported pesticides – how true that is I do not know…) and if you believe that the internet is not a wealth of information on this subject, then you are plain old silly. IICA Barbados also have some answers…I just finished a little ‘booklet’ on Goodfellow Farms in The Bahamas – very successful micro-green farm…they have through various systems basically ‘ cleaned’ and continue to ‘clean’ their soil…composting etc etc. as best they can. But at least they’ve started. The Bahamas used seaweed, fish heads in the old days to put nutrients back into the soil…until they realized the importance of seaweed to the sea floor but certainly seaweed washed up on shore can be used…today there are more modern methods but hey! think of all the fish waste that takes place in our fishing industry….could that not be used somehow. I am not an agriculturalist but I can use me head a bit when looking for answers as to how to revamp my soil.

At the beginning of the book that will be available through IICA soon (I do believe) I state “I have compiled contents in this manner so the readers can understand the entire picture of Goodfellow Farms. They will have a personal interaction with its owner, Mr. Ian Goodfellow and I end the report with some delicious recipes of the food I was privileged to taste at Goodfellows – one of the big reasons for their success.
This method of documentation ensures information with easy reading for all. Renewed hope for the sustainability of farming in our islands is the goal. This is not an in depth clinical report but a true story of success, one that indicates clearly what the land can do for you.”

I rest my case…as I move right along worrying about how soon I can get Barbados Bu’n-Bu’n – a culinary tour on the market. Sponsorship has been difficult to achieve…we do not consider food to be of as much importance to sponsor forever and forever as compared to a one-night ragga-ragga fete…but there you are…it is really all about starting a mind change, simple as dat. We had it before, good food practices from the farm to the table. We went wrong. Now time to go back…and we CAN do it. Bit by bit. Not a total answer but if we do not start, we will just simply die. Imagine watching one of your great-grandchildren at the age of 6 dying of cancer in front of you, slowly and painfully. Yes! It could happen to all of us. START THE HEALING PROCESS BY GETTING RID OF MONSANTO IMPORTS INTO THIS ISLAND.

It is believed the four estates of the realm have to work togeter to ensure a harmonious, rewarding and productive society.

First we have the Church, what role are they playing?

We have what use to be the monarchy or nobility which today we can be replaced with government. Are we happy with the role it is playing?

We have the media, Fourth Estate, again, are we happy?

Lastly we have the third estate, the people.

All have to work together!

Monsanto is a prime example that the the documentary “The Corporation” got it right. The documentary released a few years ago (along with a book by the same name) claimed that while corporations might be made into “persons” by our legal systems, by their very nature they are, in effect, persons with the characteristics of a psychopath. In short we created and are still creating our own monsters who will eventually destroy us – move over Dr. Frankenstein.

In the mid-1800s the corporation emerged as a legal “person.” Imbued with a “personality” of pure self-interest, the next 100 years saw the corporation’s rise to dominance. The corporation created unprecedented wealth but at what cost? The remorseless rationale of “externalities” (as Milton Friedman explains, the unintended consequences of a transaction between two parties on a third) is responsible for countless cases of illness, death, poverty, pollution, exploitation and lies.

THE PATHOLOGY OF COMMERCE: CASE HISTORIES

To assess the “personality” of the corporate “person,” a checklist is employed, using diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social “personality”: it is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. Four case studies, drawn from a universe of corporate activity, clearly demonstrate harm to workers, human health, animals and the biosphere. Concluding this point-by-point analysis, a disturbing diagnosis is delivered: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a “psychopath.”

http://www.thecorporation.com/index.cfm?page_id=312

At the page linked above, you can use the link in their sidebar “Watch Video” to view the documentary on Youtube in 23 episodes.

A very telling summary of Monsanto’s long history of making their corporate profits off of human misery and suffering is here: http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-firms-mobile/10595-monsanto-a-history

The paw-paw problem likely has nothing to do with Monsanto. The problem is very likely caused by a virus which is carried by slugs and snails.

If there are no slugs or snails around you will notice that paw-paw trees do very well.

Barbadians have chosen NOT to grow food.

All the long talk about the evils of Monsanto does not change the fact that Bajans will not stick a fork in the ground.

From the tenantry to the heights, the land around the house can grow fruit and vegetables.

Ever tell wunna about when I was too lazy to cut the grass in my backyard, pelt the innards of a pumpkin in the grass and a couple months later, stump my toe on a 4 pound pumpkin. There were a dozen more on that vine.

The Fact is Barbados has an effective Ministry of agriculture to support farmers and kitchen gardeners but wunna like cutting style in SuperCentre and Emerald city.

I occasionally use roundup but will not be purchasing any after reading the info on this blog. I wonder if the government is testing for pesticides and herbicides in our drinking water? And if they are doing this , what are the results. I am alarmed at the indiscriminate use of these chemicals . I used to have monarch butterflies in my garden but for the past two years I haven’t seen one. This worries me because these insects are the first indicators that all is not well in the environment .

islandgal246
I can tell you that the BWA is very concerned by the level of chemicals in the drinking water supplied in Barbados. There are a number of other concerns but the greatest is the percentage of chemicals found in the water, at times it borders on the unacceptable level, maybe we’ll wait until there is a outbreak of some disease to do something about it; the relevant authorities know about it.