Submitted by Ready Done
It is obvious by grouping farming with small business that the late Prime Minister David Thompson wanted us to elevate our current view of farming to a more business like model. With the help of our leaders we can quickly make this dream a reality, we only need some basic systems put in place to guide the agri-business sector.
To be successful any business needs up to date information about the market in which it operates to ensure the best possible plan/strategy is created. Being a small farmer myself – looking for information on Aquaponics in Barbados – I became painfully aware of the many factions of authority governing agriculture on the island. My efforts came up empty. I was frustrated at the large number of different agencies involved in the sector, and more so, how they operate completely independently of each other.
These individual agencies all claim that for agriculture to work there must be a unified stance taken by farmers. They proclaim that there must be some unity so that we can, for example, know when to plant a crop to avoid the yearly gluts on the market.
Organising the farmers of Barbados has proven to be a daunting task indeed, we are all viewed as a notorious bunch of cut throats, loathe to share basic information and thinking the market out there is only big enough for us alone. Nevertheless unity starts from the top. Its about time we see a Mission Statement from all the key players in agriculture, signalling they are willing to work together.
Currently it just seems like there is a fragmented group of associations that are each vying to be the single authority. Why should small farmers care or be motivated to work in unity when the regulating bodies in the sector are not appearing to work together?
A statement of unification to reassure the public that we the farmers of Barbados are being lead by a unified body and we are all working together should be taken seriously. It is the next logical step for Team Barbados.
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