See Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the project
Support the Caribbean Permaculture Research Institute of Barbados
See Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the project
22 responses to “Support the Caribbean Permaculture Research Institute of Barbados”
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Minister of Agriculture Estwick and the government must be commended for allocating 16 acres of land to support what seems like a worth cause.
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[…] David Filed under: Barbados News Tagged: Agriculture, Caribbean Permaculture Research Institute of […]
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[…] Support the Caribbean Permaculture Research Institute of Barbados […]
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A Permaculture Farm ideally has a polyculture of plants, animals and activities occurring on it. In a polyculture system there’s always something that can be grown, made or exchanged in order to acquire dollars and pay the bills.
” Once you start looking at Permaculture as a profitable venture, you start seeing all of the opportunitys for all types of land.” -
Have to agree with David. The Minister of Agriculture, the PS and his technocrats in the Ministry all deserve kudos for this key and very substantial contribution to this project. Hopefully, like I did, members of the BU “family” will click on the link and go to Kickstarter and make a pledge of support for a much needed initiative that has the potential to help reduce our astronomical food import bill and for households to provide for some of their food needs.
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Two interesting documents about using modern methods to drive agriculture.
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You might look into Biointensive gardening, which ideally enables one to grow all the food needed on 4000 square feet per person. This includes land needed to grow compost materials. The book “One Circle” describes vegan diets which can be grown in as little as 1000 square feet per person. This doesn’t include land for compost materials. Even though these are geared toward vegan diets they’re a good jumping off point for omnivorous diets, I think.
http://growbiointensive.org/
http://www.bountifulgardens.org/prodinfo.asp?number=BEA-0370 -
Thank you David, for posting the Caribbean Permaculture KickStarter campaign on Barbados Underground. You helped me back in early 2012 when you put me in contact with the FCT, David Bynoe of the Organic Food Crop Research of the MAFFW, and the Bellairs Institute. I never lost sight of this project and so now we are here, but public support is crucial to the longevity of the project. Yes, thank you to the Ministry of Agriculture for backing this much needed project, but at the same time, because we are a non-profit organization, we reply on donations, grants and volunteers. Anyone who would like to financially contribute to our project with a cheque or money order can do so by mailing it to:
CPRI Barbados Inc., Overdale, Graeme Hall Terrace, Christ Church
Free Farm Tours – sign up here https://www.facebook.com/events/450142161794806/
Thank you,
Lorraine Ciarallo
CPRI Site Manager -
@Lorraine
You should try contacting Roosevelt King head of BANGO to see if there are any NGOs willing to contribute.
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Great idea David, I will do that. If there are funds available to empower and educate people on how to grow organic food, create food forest and set up design systems sustainably, systems that don’t require big inputs, but rather recycling all kinds of inputs we take for granted, CPRI could teach them all about permaculture and get them on a path towards food security and right livelihood.
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Well Lorraine your initiative is certainly timely and hopefully it will get the support and pledges necessary on Kickstarter for it’s goals to be achieved. The editorial in the Weekend nation titled “Agriculture on the rocks” is pretty depressing.
Weekend Nation Fri, September 05, 2014 – 12:00 AM
“:Has Barbados come to the conclusion that the pursuit of an agricultural sector is no longer viable?
Have the powers that be determined that agriculture is to be abandoned and are now just waiting for the right moment to announce the decision?
Surely the apparent inactivity in the agricultural sector, particularly in the area of policymaking and leadership, is enough to give even the most optimistic the impression that agriculture is dead and we are just waiting to tell the stakeholders when the funeral is going to take place.
We don’t have the figures, but based on anecdotal evidence there surely must be more idle arable land in Barbados today than at any time in the last 100 years or so.” read the rest here on Nation website http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/editorial-agriculture-on-the-rocks/ -
Intelligent Bajans know that FOOD SECURITY is too important to ignore.
It is asinine for a country like Barbados to rely on imported food.
What is Barbados going to do when there is not enough FOREX to buy food?
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@ Hants
What is Barbados going to do when there is not enough FOREX to buy food?
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We will do what we do best….
BEG. -
Hants | September 5, 2014 at 12:28 PM |
Intelligent Bajans know that FOOD SECURITY is too important to ignore.…………………………………………………………………………………………
During the Cold War, the same EU’s and NATO’s, who are now facing off with the offspring of the Soviet Union, Russia, biggest fear was that if a shortage of food arose in the Soviet Union caused by bad crops or otherwise , the Soviets would have used their hunger as an excuse to invade the West . The mountains of beef, wine, butter and other foods stuff stored in large warehouses throughout the EU, mainly to create an artificial shortage to guarantee EU farmers a good price for the remaining good available to consumers, were all sold at a give away price to countries behind the then Iron Curtain.
When we here run out of FOREX to buy food, we will have to acquire a taste like the Haitians. -
“What is Barbados going to do when there is not enough FOREX to buy food?”
Well, one option is to stop spending such vast amounts of public money on such an insane number of under-employed public employees, and instead spend it on life-enhancing foodstuffs.
Just a suggestion.
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Also, using public jobs as an instrument of electoral survival could stop. The money saved could be used to grow or buy food.
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Aditionally, the government of Barbados, freely elected according to the democratic will of the sovereign Bajan people, could reconsider its policy on import tariffs applied to foodstuffs.
What, for example, is the nutrient value of the average onion grown in Barbados, relative to those huge, nutrient-rich onions you see elsewhere. And what tiny proportion of Barbados’s tiny population is dependant on onion growing?
Sprouts. Excellent things. Rich in folic acid and life-extending minerals. What does one sprout cost in Barbados?
Just another suggestion.
But perhaps a more important question is: what happens when there isn’t enough forex to get KFC?
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When the lines lengthen at KFC and Chefette as a result of forex deficiencies, when you can’t buy more garbage that vastly increases the prospects of diabetes, that’s when the riots will start.
Oh, Ché, if only you’d lived to see this! if only The People, in the form of impoverished Bolivian peasants, hadn’t perceived you as a bit of a dick.
That will be the real end of empire.
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The politicos running Barbados continue to harp on the point cost of production (including agriculture) is too high in Barbados.
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@Hants
This is not a new position, the same point has been made over and over by others and so far there has been no rebuttal from the PhDs at Agriculture. What is says is that we are not serious about increasing agriculture production in Barbados.
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It is true that organic matter is needed to build topsoil and slow down/prevent soil erosion however, incorporating permaculture principles and a bio-organic fertilization regime that creates soil regeneration ‘beyond sustainability’, and increases yields beyond any conventional system is no tall tale. Bio-Vital is a 3 step fertilization program that consists of a bio-fertilizer, pro-biotic compost tea and thermal compost. It is a managing fertilization system that is completely environmentally friendly. It has been proven time and time again to out perform any agrochemical formula conventional farming method out there. Bio-Vital is simple to produce on ones own farm and available to anyone who wants to learn how to make it for pennies on the dollar in comparison to the cost of agrochemicals, and free of all royalty fees. CPRI has plans to bring in Paul Taylor a 3rd generation organic farmer and horticulturalist to teach this valuable course in January 2014 and we hope, that farmers and agriculturalists will take advantage of this incredible opportunity to learn from Paul and about regenerative farming. Paul started a program called ‘Food For Free’ and co-founded the project company Hidden Garden. This has attracted the attention of Australian Federal Government and he has been approved to start up a high production food system on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean later this year . 25 hectares of old mine site land to be turned into a fresh food component for 1000 people (30% of their total food needs) within 3 years. The possibilities are endless if people are open minded and willing to allow outsiders the chance to demonstrate new and proven technologies and approaches of regenerative farming. If you’d like to learn more about Paul and Bio-Vital farms, check out his websites and projects at http://www.trustnature.com.au/information and http://hiddengarden.com.au/our-farms/ and stay tuned to http://www.cpribarbados.com for course updates.
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