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The beauty of this Agriculture is that it has no chance for failure except if mother nature intervenes.
The North American and UK economies will not have an economic boom in the forseeable future and Bajans will be deprived of forex to import food.
Government has obviously seen the writing on the wall.
While Vincent and SSS are correct that greenhouses and other “indoor” operations can provide a more secure environment this will happen in addition to the massive planting of food crops we will see in the near future.
It is the dwindling forex people.
Tea Bush Bush Tea
You sure you whacker wukking? You can’t always cut Bush with a whacker’ sometimes you need something bigger like a bulldozer. . Go drink your tea lil boy
Vincent
The greenhouses are the controls that will reduce, significantly, crop theft. As you rightfully said you can grow anything under the sun. That’s why government must invest heavily in it. For if it becomes a private sector driven enterprise with the new technologies and computerized irrigation systems, CCTV surveillance – the whole nine yards, the prices for the organic goodies will go through the roof. These thieving crooked ass merchant class exploiters.will see to that.
Concerning the taxes thing you talking bout, I hear many do not pay taxes and the ones who do, do not have to worry to much since they get back theres in their deals. The government, both present past, follow the money piper.
Concerning the taxes thing you talking bout, I hear many do not pay taxes and the ones who do, do not have to worry to much since they get back theres in their deals. The government, both present past, follow the money piper.
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Susanna….that is the big,big Elephant in the room….tell me how we can deal with it
@. Hants
The beauty of this Agriculture is that it has no chance for failure except if mother nature intervenes.
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What makes you think that failure is difficult in agriculture? There are just as many avenues for failure as in any other business. What is different about agriculture is that to a large extent, ANYONE can produce HIGH QUALITY produce. A small man can therefore produce better tomatoes than a big industrial farmer.
In normal businesses, a big operation can often out perform a small one.
Agriculture supports enfranchisement. What is needed is a good market and good prices for high quality produce, otherwise the big operations will keep prices at a loss-making low rate until small farmers fail ….and then make good their losses.
This is where cooperatives are needed to pool resources, organize marketing etc…
@Vincent
We are asking for efficient oversight by government which the AG reports continue to poke holes in year after year?
Yes we have to start the agriculture rebirth but at the same time we have to improve management approaches at the national level.
On Friday, 18 April 2014, Barbados Underground wrote:
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Bush Tea let me explain. Agriculture is now a priority for government because Barbados will not have forex to pay for imported food.
In other words if this new initiative and push in Agriculture fails Bajans will starve.
David wrote “we have to improve management approaches at the national level.”
That should be a priority but as you know David Bajans are reactive not proactive.
@Hants
What we need to do is start the process, identify 2 or 3 suitable crops and build a framework to support. We have enough post grad people at the e Ministry to get it done. What about those acres which were given to the UWI recently?
On Friday, 18 April 2014, Barbados Underground wrote:
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David ….this is not an academic exercise…..unless the players at the top see Hants’ starvation facing them in the face,with no where to run,it will not change…….all the knowledge is here and the people are here…..
You can talk until the cows come home…that is the bottom line.
Vincent
To catch a thief you have to set a trap. In this very well organized syndicate of lies and liars, the only way you can control the problem is remove the problem. Now this leads to the bigger problem. All the agencies that can deal with this problem are contaminated. The very persons who are in power, both money wise and politically wise are cut from the same cloth. Here you have an AG who can only report. What sense that makes when he exposes the crooks and can’t throw the sickle in their crutch. I do not know how you will fix this elephant in the room when the system has been carefully woven in a way that if it pops, they are still protected. The people might hold the key to transparency and integrity legislation through protest, but they already subdued by fear and crumbs place in their pockets and mouths. Vincent I really do not know. I could suggest something else but then they might want my IP address to track me and lock me up. I too young for their form of victimization. After all we still doan know who kill Pele.
Susanna….Chuckle…..well said…..I hope David understands the,who and what the Elephant is……Our hopes then lie with your young generation,so becareful and do not get locked up,join the system and try to change it from within….many have gone in hmmmmm,,,,,,,..a word to the wise.
Vincent
I must say though that the PM’s presentation made for sweet reading. If only his actions where as sweet as his words, he will make for a very prominent featured and dynamic ministerial Prime. But for those who are right thinking, the anguish of the heart bears true, when you realize all the time that these Kubbas wasted ignoring Agriculture and the special projects that should have been looked upon favourably, is now being dusted off for consideration. I say shame to all successive governments who ignore one of the most important stabilizing sectors in any economy. AGRI-AGRO-CULTURE. Time to beef up the sector…BLUPP BLUUP BLUUP
Susanna…..the Kubbas have existed for over 40 years….during that period the Scotland District was to be the bread basket of Bim,we were to produce animal feed(I worked on one of many),Cottage industries were to be developed,Agro-processing plant,Agro-Eco-Tourism synergy(I was on that one too)UWI to develop yams that could be machine reaped,we were to produce sea island cotton cloth,etc,etc…..I have a long memory when it comes to the promises made and who was responsible and why we will get no further….so it is up to you and yours….good luck
@Vincent
It is only about one year ago the MoA was forced to behave iggrunt while delivering a speech at the Savannah Hotel complaining about his cabinet lack of commitment to throwing resources at agriculture. What has happened in just one year?
On Friday, 18 April 2014, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
What has happened in just one year?
Financial services and Tourism not bringing in enough forex.
It aint complicated David.
an aside.
Yesterday 10 flying fish in Barbados $5.51 Cad
10 flying fish in Toronto $19.00 Cad
David……Reviving Ag. is a big threat….remember govt.has been begging the business class to start new projects.to no avail…..we shall see.
Vincent
Not up to me Sir. My tongue wags fast when i see shite, hear shite, witness shite, and recognize shite. The SSS keeps to her self ma boy. I see the corruption of my people and the demise of their economy resulting from greed and tunnel vision. Diversification results in sectorial integration, the outcome of which is to achieve one means – PROGRESS.TOWARDS SUCCESS. Not excuses towards refuses. All of the agricultural prospects you mentioned had promise until a few nuffatarians threw cold water on them. I am still peeved if not piss is ass at the giving away of our black belly genetics. Today I promise I wont cuss but these cunts are always busy saying why we can’t instead of Yes we Can. Their can be a national initiative call “Back to Garden basis.” The Agriculture ministry could make soil, fertilizer, seeds, and basic gardening tools available to the general public to start a major island wide drive towards food production. The island can be divided into zones with zone supervisors to monitor progresses and to provide tips. Imagine such national drive. What you Think VINCIE…You married or got a girlfriend you sound bright and sexy
Susanna
Hahahaha….very much married.
Bush Tea is not realy a bad fellow…a bit chauvanistic and into pollygamy,but I am sure you can knock him into shape a 4×4 can help…..lol
Ah well their goes our last hope for Agriculture in this island ….spent about 30 years trying and have admitted to abysmal failure.
Vincent
Congratulations. Make it last with the wifey. You know you men and your “head” problems.
As for Tea Bush…No thankyou…He has a whacker, I need a bulldozer. And Yes I am a good girl gone worst.and one who tells it like it is.
Susanna
Thanks for warming the cockles of this old geezer.
Sincerely hope you will spearhead something in Ag. and this geezer is available to assist with doing not talking…we had enough of that.
Indeed, we cannot go forward without properly understanding the historical legacy in relation to agriculture in Barbados – essentially based around the cultivation of sugar cane. We know only too well the pre- Emancipation story of the sugar industry and the psychological scars that it has left in relation to our national attitudes towards agriculture.
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Is he saying we know the pre-emancipation story …… but we don’t understand it !!!!
Double Dutch to me !!
John
The PM is right in what he is saying. But I I believe he also means himself as well. Agriculture does not carry prestige because it is seen as an implement of the massa days, and not a lucrative endeavour. So the PM and his Posse will have to be the driving force behind changing the stigma.
PUMP THE MILLIONS INTO AGRICULTURE MR PM…IT IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO…BUT LET HE AUDITOR GENERAL MONITOR THE MONEY…HE COMES OVER AS SOMEONE WHO AIN’T CONTAMINATED AS YET
with the eight day old strike being over ,,now all can breathe a sigh of relief as egos from both sides remain in tack and apologies would be seen as an after thought,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nevertheless there were enough apologies from the apologist from both sides of the fence that should be sufficient to clear the air,,,,,,,,,
Is it not ironic that an unnecessary stigma is attached to agriculture for the last 50 years, never mind everyone will be planting for themselves to eat and feed their families and not for MASSA, everyone wanted to be a modern day professional, most of whom can now be labeled as well organized thieves, liars and corrupting society without fail or change, NOW THEY HAVE to return to agriculture, very ironic indeed.
I just don’t understand what he is saying and I think the whole speech is nebulous. He does not inspire much confidence in me.
I think the reason is we have listened to people who never had a clue about the functioning of the agricultural industry, both pre and post emancipation and now we ourselves do not have a clue.
…. yet man’s relationship with the land around him is a most natural one.
We have become divorced from the land which sustained us and see it merely as a commodity to cut up and sell for a few $ without really understanding its true and lasting value.
When we are long gone, it will still be here!!
We did not become divorce from the land only, we found an easier way till now to satisfy oir conspicuous consumption.
I think the reason is we have listened to people who never had a clue about the functioning of the agricultural industry, both pre and post emancipation and now we ourselves do not have a clue.
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John……..Many do have a clue and I am not referring to the ones with degrees only,what is lacking is the will…take time and read all the previous posts on this area.Also try and find time to go to the Lecture mentioned above and ask the panelists some questions,read some of Dr Frances Chandlers columns……we know!!!
Come on guys…You make the land sound like rocket science. How much science is involve in planting?. The wherewithal to produce is there; the expertise to produce is there, the problem is the will to produce is not there. Production means cash flow inputs in the start up phrase. We have a population of over 300 000. How much land you think we need to be self sufficient. I am telling you that this can be achieved under a Gated Green House Environment. Control farming can easily achieve the crop yields we need to be sustainable. How much science besides soil fertilization, crop rotation, computerized irrigation and humidifiers, as well as CCTV surveillance we need. Government can heavily invest in this and offer subsidies. After all they invested a number of shitey projects. So why not heavily invest in something like this without the usual BULLSHIT.
If we are going to give agriculture another shot let us remember Monsanto!
Monsanto and Big Food Losing the GMO and ‘Natural’ Food Fight
Monsanto and Big Food Losing the GMO and ‘Natura…
Monsanto and Big Food Losing the GMO and ‘Natural’ Food Fight
View on http://www.naturalnews.com
Preview by Yahoo
Susanna
Head to fb “surviving harsh economic times” discussion on land use and Ag.
Yes Vincent
So in essence are you saying that the current government failed to embrace the concept of Power Circles. Because according too these points the government has failed miserably. No wonder we deep doo doo
Susanna
You are correct.
Vincent
But in the context of the Prime ministers speech, his discourse was filled with the acknowledgement of the error in a historical subliminal. And his proclamation of the new paradigm shift towards the creation of new impetus for agriculture denotes some type of seriousness to this new driving force. Should we not take him seriously? Desperate situations require a need for desperate acts.
Sunshine Sunny Shine | April 18, 2014 at 8:13 PM |
Come on guys…You make the land sound like rocket science.
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It isn’t the technical aspect which the paragraph I quoted refers to, rather the mental aspect.
Then again …………. Government has put millions already into the sugar industry.
Foreign companies (Booker Tate) have come and gone.
Maybe there are insurmountable technical issues …..
….. although I am guessing the real technical issue rests in permissions to develop and who owns the land once permission has been given
….. and I figure you will find if that is overcome the mental problems will disappear!!
John…….it is guaranteed, they have to return to the land, don’t care how pompous, arrogant, filled with nonsense about development and first world status, numerous properties and cars, etc, etc, they HAVE TO return to the land.
@ Vincent Haynes | April 18, 2014 at 8:43 PM |
Head to fb “surviving harsh economic times” discussion on land use and Ag.
Can you provide the FB link? Thanks.
Nos..
This old fellow not very good at these link things…try the above or go on fb and look for the group with that name in ihe nverted comma’s,failing which check with David as he was on it as well.
Well Well | April 19, 2014 at 9:21 AM |
John…….it is guaranteed, they have to return to the land, don’t care how pompous, arrogant, filled with nonsense about development and first world status, numerous properties and cars, etc, etc, they HAVE TO return to the land.
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I figure so too ….. but it won’t be cheap reclaiming the land from the River Tamarind, Woman’s Tongue and Cow Itch …. like starting from scratch particularly with the Cow Itch.
Maybe England will have another Civil War and the prisoners will get sent to Barbados to do the job for them!!
I am not holding my breath!!
Good Afternoon Vincent
Ahhh Yawwwwwnnnn. How you doing old timer? So now what is cooking in the blog this evening. John responded to my assertion; Vincent not knowing how to send links, David with his usual diplomatic self and no sign of Tea Bush with the working whacker. So let me make my contribution.
Returning to the land was inevitable. If the Kubbas would have recognized the mainstay of any economy is Agriculture we would have never be spending so much darn money in imports and our ass could have been out of this recession like all others. But this is what happens in a crisis driven land. Now the first thing the MAFFW needs to do is start with my Gated Green House Environment in all that land they got there in Graemehall. Establish the structures bring in the equipment put the controls in place and get the friggin ball rolling. They will save millions in pest control chemicals, fertilizers, water etc. A better produce quality product can be realized in the control environment because you won’t get all the bruising you see on vegetables from local suppliers filling up supermarket shelves. And please can someone teach the meat shops and supermarkets how to package red meats under modified atmospheric packaging. Geeeez H Christ the meat in Barbados does be so darn grey and ugly looking. You does can’t even tell between mince beef and mince chicken. Ok got a pee be right back
Oh Susanna
Chuckle…..you are preaching to the converted,even BT…..going for my pudding & Souse…hear you later….
What has happened to Uncle Willie Chicken Factory? It used to be located in St. Thomas, back in the middle 80’s It used to supply all of the chicken for the holets throughout Barbados and the major supermarkets back in the middle 1980’s.
David, have you any idea what I am talking about? Or were you too young to remember?
@ Dompey. The correct name is Uncle Wilbert.
I just read the PM,s presentation this morning. There appears to be a glaring typo in it. On page 12 it states that the total land under sugar cultivation is 53,000 acres. This is exactly half of the total land area of Barbados (106,240 to be exact). If this is really so then the output is only 0.017 lb/sq.ft/year. Even if this figure should have been 23,000 acres this still represents only 0.04 lb/sq.ft/year. From the same presentation we see that it takes $4.27 to earn $1.00 from sugar. Can someone please explain to me why we still have a sugar industry and furthermore looking to invest heavily in an industry that will never, and I stress never, be profitable or even come close to breaking even.
Thanks Bentley. I was kinda close but is that place still around?
Bentley
Sugar is not profitable because we have a set of jackasses in charge who spend millions of dollars each year doing bare shiite.
There is absolutely no reason why sugar should not be a viable industry for Barbados. Everything points to that possibility – EXCEPT for these making the decisions.
If you doubt Bushie let us call some names…..
Imagine the industry LOSING millions each and every year – and yet the same identical jackass names coming up time and again…. Wuh we must like losing money….
Then they keep bringing LOSERS from overseas to see what they can skim off for themselves before going back home…..or starting their own businesses here..
…a country with centuries in sugar, 60 years of free education ….and CANT RUN A 400 year old industry…
But then again the very nature of brass bowls is that they can manage to find a way to make even globally UNIQUE things like black belly sheep, sea island cotton, and Paradise Beach into losers…..
Bishop Gerry Seale is right…..some of the incompetent, theiving brass bowls want locking up……starting with the DPP….
Tea Bush
You starting to sound like the SSS. Ewww you a spit fire with your words. But ya spot on. I mean a island that had several sugar producing factories capable of rolling out 200,000 tonnes of sugar now can’t even produce a good 20,000 tonnes. Pathetic! Far from that the cunts prefer to spend and add to the ridiculous import bill $35,000.000.00 to bring the very thing that we could have gone in a supermarket shelve and get 20lb bag of our finest for a fraction of the price we paying for the sugar we now importing. Imagine a sugar producing island importing nearly 40 million dollars in sugar to meet local demand. I you telling me that all our education is only good enough to bring us to this. Bare Shite..
Tea Bush
What is DPP….Dumb Pooch Pickers? Or Dirty Public Prosecutor
@Bush Tea. I beg to differ. Sugar will never be profitable in Barbados. Though I agree with you that there has been gross mismanagement among other things just look at the figures. For every dollar we earn from sugar we are losing 3 dollars and 27 cents. No amount of increases in efficiency and no level of management can change this. We are constrained by land space, energy costs, labour costs etc. I,m sure the combined total of energy and labour costs is greater that the total income. Sugar is effectively dead and no amount of life support will bring it back. In addition we can put our productive lands to far better use in producing food.
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