Submitted by Mahogany Coconut Group
Many regional commentators are of the firm opinion, that the post COVID-19 economies, will have to consider putting the Agriculture industry, at the forefront of economic planning. While we certainly do not want to engage in pessimism, we suspect that some who share this view, may be quite optimistic and are avoiding historical truths.
The belief that the region should feed itself is nothing new. Over forty-five years ago, the then Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago addressed the “The Caribbean Food Crisis” and the need to halt the level of food imports. Williams saw the inability of the region to deal with the Energy Crisis as directly linked to our failure to produce more food and create a vibrant regional agricultural sector. His analysis of the social and economic negatives resulting from the damage that food imports were creating in regional economies, are as relevant now as they were almost a half century ago.
In addresses quoted at the end of this article, Williams spoke of the stigma that young people attached not only to agriculture but to the actual foods they consumed. Indeed, he spoke of how our eating habits and the preference over imported food were rationalized. He also showed how the growth of the tourism industry was influencing food preferences, that were instrumental in driving imports
Against this background, we are forced to conclude that those negatives are more severe now than they were a half century ago. Since Williams spoke, tourism has become the major industry in several islands. Some of these islands, are now literally bankrupt because the COVID-19, has wiped out the tourist industry, for what is being hoped would be temporary period.
The stone that the builder refused (Agriculture) is at present being seen as the new corner stone, in what will be post COVID-19 regional economies. We can only hope that we do not repeat the errors made a half century ago.
All I can say is that Dr. Williams’ views echoed those of the late George M. Sammy, Professor of Food Technology, St. Augustine, Trinidad, who had the same words to say nearly fifty years ago. i have constantly alluded to the fact that, for more than forty-years I have wished that there would be change in the agriculture and food industry locally. It has not happened and the out look of it happening is remote once some time elapses and the memory of the Wuhan pandemic fades into history. I can say so because most of the countries in these parts, are held captive to a mercantile group whose sole aim is the importation of cheap ( of dubious quality) food and its retail at very high prices. There is little risk involved in such an enterprise and the rewards are very rich.
The big question will be if COVID 19 will push the region, especially Caricom, to move the issue of food security to the stage of implementation. With the world having to operate in lockdown mode until a vaccine is found- we hope, the smartest will survive. Governments and private sectors must set aside partisan arguments for national imperatives.
@RL,
well said. i have some friends in the MoA and the frustration and bureaucracy they talk about to get the simplest things done is astonishing to hear. seems like we are stuck in our ways and are unwilling to change despite what the various ministers say in press conferences.
In a market economy with free consumer choice it is difficul to steer consumers towards domestic agricultural products.
How is this to be done in Barbados?
Since we cannot ban imports, I believe that the devaluation of the Barbados dollar is essential to achieve a domestic subsistence economy. We should devalue the dollar until the local masses can only afford local food.
A good side effect is that we then no longer need inflated so-called currency reserves, which in reality consist only of debt. The Central Bank is lying to the people when it talks about reserves, because we have not accumulated currency assets, but only foreign currency debts to the IMF and private banks.
It must happen if the global supply chain is interrupted and the country cannot afford any longer to have caviar taste and mauby pocket.
What items Bajans currently standing in long supermarket lines to buy? We are fast to talk about “food security” but don’t seem to want to accept that our tastes dictates what we import. Not to mention we love concrete driveways and pretty lawns, while not planting one lemon grass patch or a lime tree.
@enuff
You have been a proponent on the blog to finding ways to disrupt the behaviours you mentioned.
Making the country/Caribbean food self sufficent is easy, especially for Barbados, put 500% duty on all imported food or as Tron states devalue the worthless Barbados $ to 10 cents to US$. This will also solve the DEADWOOD employment issues and make government guru’s live within their means.
I am always surprised when Caribbean people talk about food security. If we restrict it to CARICOM, we have more than enough capacity to feed our people with some left.
Guyana is bigger than England, with a population the size of three of the 32 boroughs in London. Ignore the other natural resources, Greater Georgetown can feed the six million CARICOM citizens, far less the rest of the country.
As a little boy, Barbados used to import most of its rice from Guyana and Haiti; now when you go shopping at our so-called supermarkets, such as Massy’s in Oistins, the vast majority of the rice on sale is American rice. Some buyer at Massy’s must have gone shopping in the US for that rice, it did not creep across the Caribbean sea; so too didn’t the US and Canadian carrots, etc. We are the architects of our own misfortune.
Or take the collapse of the citrus fruit business I the smaller islands. There is no reason why we should be importing bananas and citrus fruit from US-owned Central American providers when, again, we can supply ourselves.
When can’t we set up a juicing factory in Barbados and important all the oranges, grapefruit, etc produced by the Eastern Caribbean islands and develop a canned juice industry, instead of importing from the US. When cannot they develop a jam and marmalade industry from the same fruits?
When can’t our scientists carryout research on the residue of the products for new medicines? Caribbean people have not stopped eating mangoes, just that we seem to import them – sometimes from Israel.
Many Barbadians are so blinded by consumerism that they now imported sweetened tamarinds from Thailand, nicely packaged, rather than eat what they have. I remember the Miller brothers made their money from selling tamarinds and frozen water (ice).
It is the poverty of ideas by our political and business leaders, not exploitation by foreigners, that has us now scared of the starvation facing us down the line.
In the real world, devaluation while continuing to “import inflation”, is a useless economic policy.
@ Greene April 20, 2020 8:10 AM
Do you realize that there are more clerical staff in the MOA than technical staff? Do you also realize that the non-technical people have more clout than the technical people?. there was a PS Reid who thought he knew more about agriculture research than the agriculture scientist. With people like Reid in charge things are bound to go no way at all. The MOA was politicized more than ever when Lionel Smith was made Chief Agriculture Officer. for more than twenty-years he presided over the decline and seemed content to draw pay without enabling meaningful change. The same occurred with Barton Clarke who seemed more intent on becoming a tourist than doing agriculture research. He had to apologize for the failure of the MOA research Symposium: under him, it was the first time that there was none. Compound the above facts with the mercantile class and the political elite who seem to be perpetually on the take and the result is a recipe for disaster. I would hope things change especially for the young, who I feel sorry for on one hand: but when I examine things critically, maybe a bit of hardship will serve to galvanize them to think creatively and come up with new ideas.
@ William Skinner at 9 :25 AM
At least one blogger has on his thinking cap. It is useless; but we have too many repeating the same old mantra in a world in which it was never relevant.
@ Tron
. I hope the promoters are cognizant that a policy relevant in a temporary crisis situation is a recipe to returning to a subsistence economy. Is that what we really want? Those thinking rationally would aim for a balanced economy with several industries. Small size limits that does it not?
I am convinced we should export our surplus of cheap talk. The only problem is that potential markets are self sufficient.
David
Yup! So shall we start with the supermarkets or would that be despotic behaviour? How about a regional approach to investment opportunties for citizens in food production–crops, aquaculture, animal husbandry, canning, processing etc? Especially in member states with the capacity? Me thinks Hal is saying something similar.
The food situation will not change until farmers stand on their own feet and stop depending on government to chart their destiny.
The corporations of this world don’t wait on government. They do what they have to do to get things done or they fail. Farmers have to get together and form a single massive co-operative type company to look after their own interests.
Through that company farmers would be able to employ dedicated staff to properly market and distribute their produce freeing them to concentrate on farming. Said company would then be able to use the profits to research and develop new technology, fund and publish studies into the benefits of their own produce and effectively lobby government like all the other corporations do.
Farmers in the EU are heavily subsidised. Farmers in the US are more than heavily subsidised
@ Vincent Codrington April 20, 2020 9:42 AM
Devaluation is enough. The market will do the rest.
We do not need any gov and the many useless gov consultants to promote subsistence agriculture if 1 BBD is one 0.10 USD.
The main problem in Barbados is that the government advisors and special ambassadors, in their intellectual limitations, actually believe that the state should take the place of the economy, or that the state can do better business. This Marxist belief has failed globally. That is the reason why almost all developing countries are in a much worse position today than they were under colonial rule.
Barbados is a reference case. After the Corona crisis, we are roughly at the 1980 level of development, but we have the human ballast in the public service of the OSA years.We finally have to cut the rotten meat from the bone of the state and hope that some day something better will grow back.
@Hal
spot on.
sweet tamarinds are grown here now and citrus had a blight that decimated the trees in the Caribbean and the US. they are just about recovering and the Soil Conservation Unit is about to start selling to the public again.
as a child i never ate cornflakes. but today you cant give a bajan child a breakfast that doesnt have cornflakes as seen on TV. you should see the prices of cornflakes and pancake mix that we so carve in Bim now!!
Over a year ago the minister of agriculture said he would soon be starting a greenhouse house ” to assist with increasing food supply.”
@ Hal April 20, 2020 8:57 AM
“When can’t we set up a juicing factory in Barbados and important all the oranges, grapefruit, etc produced by the Eastern Caribbean islands and develop a canned juice industry, instead of importing from the US. When cannot they develop a jam and marmalade industry from the same fruits?”
Its a tale of the merry-go-round(MGR). You are old enough to remember what was called the MGR. Several efforts have been made by government to get a processing plant up and running. When I assumed the position as head of the experimental food processing unit, I attended several meetings at the British American Tobacco (BAT) company, Dick Stout sat in and the way forward was mapped out. There was to be a new plant at Lower Estate to house all of the equipment which had been donated to government by the Organization of American States(OAS) and the British Overseas development Agency. All the equipment( Dixie pilot cannery with all the exhauster, pressure retort, drum dryer, urschei dicer, vacuum mixers, steam-jacketed kettles, meat pump, band saw) was there that would have put Barbados in the lead in the English speaking Caribbean in the Agri-Industries. There were blue prints for the new plant. I ordered the necessary scientific equipment. It was among the best( especially in the area of microbiology) in the island( the hospital was short of distill water equipment and equipment for testing blood sugar automatically and i was approached to see what I could do on its behalf. I ordered the milli-pore distillation and deionizer equipment as well as an osmometer for from my grant, as I said it was all Barbadian tax payers money). The equipment was received and it was never used since the food plant was folded up ostensible because of a difference of opinion between me and the relevant authorities, The real reason was that pressure was exerted by the private sector. It was argued that the private sector was better positioned in Barbados to engender the scientific thrust, Nearly forty-years later, Barbados is waiting for the private sector to step up to the plate. the Instant yam was the first to go, despite it being known that the Trinidadian government was willing to purchase all the instant yam Barbados could produce for its school meals program. It is a rather sad affair. where there is no vision the people perish.
@Dr. Lucas
That was then, we are here now.
The food situation will not change until farmers stand on their own feet and stop depending on government to chart their destiny.
The corporations of this world don’t wait on government. They do what they have to do to get things done or they fail. Farmers have to get together and form a single massive co-operative type company to look after their own interests.
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THIS IS NOT FACT,
IN THE US & UK THE FEDERAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT GIVES SUBSIDIES INCLUDING CASH TO ASSIST FARMERS PRODUCING CERTAIN CROPS INCLUDING MEAT.
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IS YOU HAVE USELESS JAMES PAUL AT BAS LIKE A RUDERLESS SHIP NOT GUIDING FARMERS PROPERLY SO THAT MANY TIMES THERE ARE SURPLUSES/GLUT IN SOME CROPS BECAUSE OF LACK OF COORDINATION.
INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT RIVER TAMARIND AND MARIJUANA ADDITIONAL LAND CAN BE USED FOR FOOD CROPS.
THERE IS NO CHOICE GOING FORWARD AS MANY JOBS FOR A WHILE WILL BE LOST IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY WITH A KNOCK ON EFFECT TO SUPPLIERS.
BETTER GET GOING QUICKLY OR THE NEW PANDEMIC WILL BE STARVATION.
@ Robert
I believe you. Sometime when I was working, the CEO of a leading Barbados company rang me at the FT and sought advice on his business model. I made it clear I was not an adviser, but talked to him as a loyal Barbadian.
When I put the phone down I could not believe that someone in his position was so lost when it came to the development of his business model. It confirmed all I have thought of our business leaders – incompetence.
I have said on BU on a number of occasions that the real national problem is not corruption, but incompetence. We often confuse qualifications with experience and knowledge.
I know a very good food scientist, trained in the UK, who returned to Barbados sometime ago and ended up selling tat down the wharf in a small shop. It was sad. I have already called attention to the plumber who re-t rained as a lawyer. Total lunacy. I am sure he now sees that as an achievement.
This problem goes back to our independence. We knew we wanted to get rid of the colonisers, but after that we had not an idea how we were going to progress.
At some point we must face reality and admit that for the last 50 years we have failed. We need good political leadership; sound business leadership; leadership, leadership, leadership. Barbados is a failed state.
I wish that a meaningful analysis of the local food industry is done. Bloggers will be surprised that it is just another assembly industry with a high percentage of imported capital and intermediate capital inputs.
Food security ? Let us see the figures or as my mother was wont to say : ” Show me the “working”. LoL!!!
@Vincent
Let us agree with your position, we are talking what is the % of contribution to inputs to inform the debate?
Our food security must be dealt with on a regional basis, through CARICOM, not on the basis of a 14×21 island with a population of near 300000. In the early 1960s, with a population of about 250000, a delegation was sent from Barbados to Dominica to discuss relocating some Barbadians there.
If we were over-crowded in 1960, are we more so now? We must put our hands up, admit that until now we have failed, and call for a genuine attempt – black and white – to rescue our country.
If we do not, and soon, the New Barbadians will take over. If white Barbadians think they will escape the brutality of Indian or Lebanese control, they are living in cloud cuckoo land. Our days are numbered.
@ Vincent.
I doubt if you asked the MOA to identify the items we want to urgently act on in a import substititution project you would get a response.
Once again, there is nothing new under the sun here. As far back as 1971, Michael Manley approached Eric Williams about a regional fertilizer/agriculture project. In one of the referenced addresses, Williams said: “ Only four days ago in Barbados , a working party of the four larger Caribbean Community territories met to work out proposals for the organization of a huge food project to achieve the largest possible measure of self-sufficiency in the Caribbean.”
Note this address was to the biennial Caribbean Veterinary Convention and not to a group of economists arm chair or otherwise.
Like I said nothing new under the sun here.
The local inputs are land and labour.
If we continue to replace these with machines , imported plant materials, plastic tubes and concentrated manures ,growth hormones. and plastic green houses: It would still be cheaper to import food. But let us do the sums.
@ David April 20, 2020 10:23 AM
i hope you are correct. As an observer I have my doubts.
@Hal,
there is a local level to food security and a regional level.
BTW what happened to the proposal to move bajans to Dominica?
are you aware that this govt talked about increasing Bim’s pop to around 400k?
We seem incapable of thinking regionally. We need to start thinking how the region can survive and not how individual islands can make it. We must now return to the simple fact, that a chain is as strong as its weakest link.
In order to globally position ourself we must first strengthen ourselves regionally. We can’t seriously talk about a new path forward on an individual basis.
@ Robert
The DLP came to power in 1961 and that was the end of it. I am aware that the president had said that Barbados is too small for economic growth. Here on BU I asked what she meant: is it the size of the island or the size of the population? That was not made clear at first. It was an excuse for a lack of ideas. Blame the size of the population.
Regardless, it is economic lunacy, nonsense, the reasoning of someone who has not given any real thought to the idea and has little grasp of economics.
If she is saying it is the size of the population, the real problem is productivity, not the size of the population. We can increase productivity without increasing the size of the population. In fact, at nearly 300000 Barbados is over-populated.
3,000 to 3,500 yams plants per acre.
~ 5 lbs per plant.
15,000 -17,500 lbs per acre.
15,000 – 17,500 people with a meal for say 2 days.
FROM 1 ACRE.
Scale it up from there.
Probably similar for sweet potatoes.
Remember, we fed ourselves during WWII.
May have had help from other islands as members of the commonwealth but it isn’t rocket science.
@Dr. Lucas
Are you listening to dairy farmer Paul Davis explain why is is not profitable to produce local cheese?
You are hopefully aware that the transition to agriculture is associated with a very considerable loss of prosperity.
We cannot afford agricultural machinery. Like everything else, they break down in no time for lack of maintenance.
The only alternative is manual labour on the plantation at competitive low wages.
Politicians should finally be honest that the old plantation model is coming back.
“are you aware that this govt talked about increasing Bim’s pop to around 400k?”
@ Mr. Greene
And, I’m sure you’re aware sometime in March 2014, Ronald Jones said there was a need to increase the Barbadian population, which was endorsed by Donville Inniss.
So, what’s the difference? It suddenly becomes a problem because it was repeated by the political party you oppose?
As I see it, politicians from both political parties talking shiite.
Leff out this politics thing, yuh hear?
Remember, the duopoly rules.
At some point in time, we have to make a concerted effort to move forward. The difference between an intellectual with just a diploma and one with ideas , is vast. We pinpoint a Dr. Lucas, who apparently or evidently fell victim , to a system that does not recognize ideas or creativity.
Then we have a Jeremy Stevens, who just recently clearly showed that the porn industry readjusted its model to compete with the new technology.
Without the faintest understanding of what Stevens was saying, some jokers tried to make light of his position. So in reality, the society was not ready for a Dr Lucas , and it is not now ready for a Jeremy Stevens.
@ David.
I am listening to the 2 farmers and David Ellis now. I have to say with the hurdles these guys face you got to ask why they bother with farming at all. Every government that comes seems to do nothing but talk.
@John A
Agree with you.
#water #praedial larceny #cultural taste
To name just three.
William Skinner April 20, 2020 10:49 AM
We seem incapable of thinking regionally. We need to start thinking how the region can survive and not how individual islands can make it. We must now return to the simple fact, that a chain is as strong as its weakest link.
In order to globally position ourself we must first strengthen ourselves regionally. We can’t seriously talk about a new path forward on an individual basis.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Especially not in manufacturing. I think we could feed ourselves here but any processing would have to be looked at regionally. We should seek to enhance trade between ourselves and not duplicate processing and compete with each-other.
PS. My sixteen year old son already put up his website and has a google ad running. Seems to be working. Why someone would need Jeremy Stephens to tell them that is what surprises me.
#water #praedial larceny #cultural taste
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
water harvestibg, mulching, crop selection etc. controlled environments, proper tracking systems and surveillance, creative new dishes and marketing
It can be done.
And we should get back to kitchen gardening. It can be done in pots though I think my lack of experience is showing at present. Still, I will persevere.
All it would take is some fancy promotions to get people on board. Social media would do a good job if the right person does it. Make it some sort of challenge and it would take off.
Now is the time!
#labour cost
We need a holistic plan. Time to stop the talk as Vincent says.
>
Barbados Improvements Part 3: Agriculture
Posted on August 1, 2018
6 Perennial Larceny:
The obvious problem that no politician venture to talk about. They may talk about it as in “we import too many items we can grow here in Barbados” or “we need food security” or “as a nation we are living too high we need to live within our means” or “Buy Bajan” or “have your own kitchen garden” but never that the small farmer who tries and grows most of the vegetable crops in Barbados are being robbed daily by crop thieves at night, the large scale farmers have already given up. Why plant and tend a crop for 10 weeks and the last week half is stolen and if you set a guard the last week, the 9th week half of it is stolen or the guard says” I did not see anything I must have been at the other end of the field”. We now have a situation that the large farmers are out and the small farmers who supply the bulk of local produce only get to sell half of what they sowed. The perennial larceny law needs up grading. The penalties needs stiffening, the police needs to respond within 20 minutes and the people protecting their land/livelihood/family can be given permission to use any type of force including using firearms. Now you know why yams/onions/carrots/sweet potatoes/butternut squash/water melons/other melons/beans/peppers/ ETC. have so high a selling price.
Since the PM rightly so, has embarked on a plan to make Barbados Government work and work correctly get the AG to do his part.
See…. https://barbadosunderground.net/2018/08/01/barbados-improvements-part-3-agriculture/
https://barbadosunderground.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/agriculture.png?w=1024&h=333&crop=1
@ David.
I hear the MOA talking about feeding yourself, but if we can’t get the basic needs for the sector to go forward sorted out how pray tell can we expand it?
@ David who wrote ” you got to ask why they bother with farming at all ”
It is likely they value their independence .
The government needs to buy in to the agriculture project. The time for talk is over.
This government started a project with Suriname. What is the update?
What is the status of Duke lands donated to UWI, CAVE Hill?
What about Sir Kyffin and huge agriculture lands bought in Guyana?
We need some success stories!!!
>
@ Donna
Yes I totally agree that we can feed ourselves to some degree. However, I again quote from the referenced speeches in the article:
“ There is not only an increase in the variety and quantity of foods as we go from the poor to the well-off but also a change in the ratio of local to imported foods and from staples to delicacies. Such variation is usually accompanied by a certain amount of rationalization : poor people extol the good hearty values of manioc or yucca, that is cassava, and well-off people affect to despise it and in turn praise rice. But almost everyone holds canned foods, especially meat (Spam) and fish ( pilchards in tomato sauce and salmon) in great esteem- sweet meats of a canned civilization.”
“ I myself (Williams) encountered another rationalization a few years ago here in Trinidad. A group of young people to whom I was speaking assured me that they wished to have no part of any agricultural programme related to the small farmer and local foodstuffs , because commodities like eddoes and dasheen were slave food.”
The question is: Are we any farther from such rationalizations today as we were fifty years ago? Quite frankly I think such thinking might be more prevalent than we want to admit. Quite recently a friend told me that our kids were eating ravin and inferior brands of tuna. The “ canned civilization”.
BTW it’s great to know your son is on his way with the technology. It’s the way forward.
@ David.
The land at Dukes that was donated is growing weeds, as is most of the good agricultural land on the island.
@John A
What are the obstacles to making the project work? This is the university for god sakes.
Teefing is an industry in Barbados. It is socially acceptable by many, largely depending upon who is teefing from who, and what is being teefed.
I know a local farmer who suffered from teefing. Years ago he set out to find a solution. He rented out, very cheaply, two areas of his land to local fellas to farm. The condition was….stop de teefing from my lands. To bolster this defence, he also knew other ‘farmers’ were growing mary jane in those lands planted with cane. With the advent of drones, he could spot the locations easily. The further deal was, once he located the mary janers, you continue and I will not dig them up, but similarly, stop de teefing of my crops. The ‘community policing’ reduced theft considerably.
And yet agricultural larceny is but one form of teefing. We have many. Awarding public contracts without public tender is teefing. Manipulating tenders, is also teefing. Drawing a paycheque while producing at 30% is also teefing. Collecting VAT and not remitting it, is teefing. Removing goods without payment, is teefing. Not paying taxes is teefing. Wukking a lil while drawing benefits for being unemployed is teefing. And on and on.
In a similar fashion much can be done to reduce teefing. But, do we really want to?
@David
“FOOD PRODUCTION IN B’DOS BEING FURTHER BOOSTED, SAYS STRAUGHN”
if YOU BUYING THIS BAJAN GARBAGE then your infected with the BAJAN VIRUS, no hope for future success.
@NO
to the point, my good fella, to the point.
@ David April 20, 2020 11:32 AM
I really did not listen. I presumed he talked about the cost of the raw materials .When cheese is made ,there is a proteinaceous product called whey, which is left over. One can reduce cost of manufacturing cheeses locally by utilizing the whey in the manufacture of high protein drinks, as food flavor enhancers, as extenders and acidulants in meat products. Can also be used in baked goods.
The extract below indicates some of the uses to which the whey by-product can used.. need to utilize technology.
Whey and Whey Powders: Production and Uses: Oscar Leandro Ramos and others
Encyclopedia of food and health Aims & Scope, Chapter: Whey and whey powders, production and uses, Publisher: Elsevier Science, Editors: Caballero B., Finglas P., Toldra F. August 2014
Whey, a by-product of the dairy industry, contains many valuable constituents, especially soluble proteins, for example, β-lactoglobulin, α-lactalbumin, immunoglobulin, bovine serum albumin, lactoferrin, and lactoperoxidase. They are widely accepted as food ingredients in several food formulations (e.g., confectionery, bakery, health, and sport supplements), normally in dry form. Whey products possess relevant nutritional (e.g., high content of essential amino acids), functional (e.g., gelation, foaming, and emulsifying agent), and biological (e.g., antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, and immunomodulatory activities) properties for health. Advances in processing technologies of whey protein powders, their major functional and biological properties,
Barbados could have been growing their own Peruvian (English) potatoes. I went to Jamaica in 1992 for the first time and was surprised to see the fields and fields of potatoes grown there. Scientists at Guelph university developed the Yukon Gold potato and the Trinidadians came up, saw them, tasted them and has been growing them ever since. Bajans like to import.
@ David April 20, 2020 12:35 PM
“#labour cost”
You seem to forget that a lot of farm produce in the US and Europe is increasingly being done by machines. So in the future labor should not be a problem apart from the initial capital outlay.
We could talk on this topic till they find a cure for covid and it will change nothing. You want to see how a country views agriculture, it’s really very easy.
What subsidies does the country have in place to help the sector and thus ensure competitiveness and employment?
How much does the country spend in promoting it say in comparison to tourism?
What low cost financing is in place through state enterprises or the MOA, to assist in agricultural start up or expansion?
Does the country have green houses erected on state land for the landless farmer to rent as a package monthly ?
Now when wunna answer these questions honestly you will see if a government is genuinely interested in promoting food Independance or just spouting political manure, which in this case can not even be used as a source of fertiliser.
@ Dame Bajans April 20, 2020 2:01 PM
The white potato was grown extensively in Barbados during the 1960’s.
And yet agricultural larceny is but one form of teefing.
We have many.
Awarding public contracts without public tender is teefing.
Manipulating tenders, is also teefing.
Drawing a paycheque while producing at 30% is also teefing.
Collecting VAT and not remitting it, is teefing.
Removing goods without payment, is teefing.
Not paying taxes is teefing.
Wukking a lil while drawing benefits for being unemployed is teefing.
And on and on.
In a similar fashion much can be done to reduce teefing. But, do we really want to?
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SPOT ON 200%.
YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED AND EXPOSED THE BAJAN CONDITION ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND OF BIM.
YET IF I HIGHLIGHT THE SAME SEVERAL SILLY JACKASSES WILL WANT TO ATTACK FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH.
Hungry, poor people steal food, unless you are suggesting that there are cultural/genetic reasons for stealing.
BARBADOS FUEL PRICES RECENTLY INCREASED DURING THE COVID LOCK-DOWN…WE SHOULD BE GETTING OIL AT THIS PRICE WHERE THEY PAY YOU TO TAKE IT, THAT WILL PAY FOR THE FREIGHT…
U.S. oil’s May contract just marked history, plunging about 300% to settle negative $37.63 a barrel
Published: April 20, 2020
By
Mark DeCambre
U.S. oil’s May contract plunged into negative territory on Monday, meaning that you would have to pay to get someone to take barrels of oil off your hands. West Texas Intermediate oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange plunged nearly 300% to settle at negative $37.63 a barrel. The May contract expires CL.1, -237.43% CLK20, -237.43% Tuesday. That one-day drop marks the first time the contract has traded negative in history and would be the largest tumle on record going back to 1983, while a finish near its current level would be far below the previous all-time low for a front-month contract, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The June contract CLM20, -16.98% which is the most-active, ended down $4.60, or 18.3%, at $20.03 a barrel.
Mark DeCambre is MarketWatch’s markets editor. He is based in New York.
https://i.mktw.net/_newsimages/2014_dreds/markDeCambre_480.png
@ Hants April 20, 2020 12:39 PM
It ‘appears’ that your Star of prophecy has risen and now shines brightly like the ONE over Bethlehem to signal the arrival of a new dawn for the economic baby Bim.
The next manifestation of the Light of Wisdom would soon appear when the local political shepherds are forced to guide their electoral sheep away from the addictive dependency on imported processed foods as the waters of borrowed foreign exchange fail to fall from the skies like unearned manna from tourism heaven and tax avoidance havens.
Agriculture- the basis of human existence on Mother Earth- has once again taken her rightful place to be the leader bearing the flag of survival with the motto “Pride & Industry”.
Why don’t you start the campaign to have Our Lady Friend Santa Carmetta nominated as the next national hero?
We are sure you can amass more than 200,000 signatures before the 28th of April to demonstrate that this “Heroes Day” will not just be another wasted time of macaroni pie and wuk-up music heralding a day of national insignificance due to the presence of Covid the angel of rebirth delivering a vision of 20:20 reality.
BajeApril 20, 2020 2:19 PM
And yet agricultural larceny is but one form of teefing.
We have many.
Awarding public contracts without public tender is teefing.
Manipulating tenders, is also teefing.
Drawing a paycheque while producing at 30% is also teefing.
Collecting VAT and not remitting it, is teefing.
Removing goods without payment, is teefing.
Not paying taxes is teefing.
Wukking a lil while drawing benefits for being unemployed is teefing.
And on and on.
In a similar fashion much can be done to reduce teefing. But, do we really want to?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SPOT ON 200%.
YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED AND EXPOSED THE BAJAN CONDITION ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND OF BIM.
YET IF I HIGHLIGHT THE SAME SEVERAL SILLY JACKASSES WILL WANT TO ATTACK FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Both you and Hal should wonder why.
By the way NO, the behaviour of which you speak is widespread worldwide. There is nothing peculiar to Barbados.. Probably more corruption high up than there is low down. What was the collapse of 2008 about?????? Who went to jail??????
My tv is still working and so is my internet as you can see. News travels.
Biggest scams going on right now are in the largest countries in the world – Russia and the US of A. How about that Putin and Friends oligarchy and Trump and Mar-a-Lago Friends with benefits???????
Did you hear that the relief package funds are again being funneled to large corporations leaving the small businesses in the lurch? And Trump dismissed the inspector general responsible for the oversight.
The American Condition and the Russian Condition are worse than the Bajan Condition.
By the way, Hal, how are the black people being treated in the COVID centres? Still at the back of the queues?
Signed,
One happy and realistic jenny ass who lives on a 2 x 3 island well aware of its problems, willing to deal with them but not standing for crap from those with the OVERSEAS BAJAN CONDITION trying to belittle us EVERY BLASTED DAY!
If this is how you get your jollies then I feel sorry for the lot of you.
@Donna
I for one, am not denying this is a human condition. The beauty of Barbados is it size, which make some things easier to see. Agricultural larceny is a problem here too, it just rarely makes the news beyond the smaller communities. So are several other issues raised. Note, I didn’t even touch on duties.
The overall point is….there is much which can be done which doesn’t depend on the rest of the world getting back their economies. One example
1. Financial reports. Some of our SOE’s and other public organizations, are far behind on Reporting. A year ago, Minister Staughn released information. see https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/04/03/soes-report-on-financials/
Later that year we are given another host of ‘reporting information’.
BUT…can you find it? The reports have not been laid before the house.
a. Oil…http://bnocl.com/annual-reports/ I am glad to see the website is back up, it was down for many months, But the reporting section is EMPTY. Yet the Minister claims to have reports. Why?
b.Transport….https://www.transportboard.com/about-us/reports-documents/ The last report shown is 2010. Yet twice the same Minsiter has referenced the Transport Board’s financial performance. In the BT article above and again in Oct 2019 https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/10/30/transport-board-loss-leader-report/ Why are the reports not more current?
c. QEH. Nothing on their website or laid in the House. Mentions from the Account General in 2016-17. But Minister Straughn seems to have information?
d. NIS…we already know this is a reporting nightmare. They have now removed Annual Reports from their website. None in 13+ years.
e. FTC…guess what? this one is up to date!! https://www.ftc.gov.bb/library/2018-ftc_annual_report.pdf
I could find nothing at the NCC (but they have 3 lovely webcams) or the NAB other reported top money losers.
How the he!! can you run an organization if you do not know the numbers? And IF you know them, why are they NOT being posted? These are PUBLIC entities, not some shop on the corner.
One blogger reminds us frequently, and he is correct, that Barbados has many of the tools and rules, and people. The challenge is USING them. This downtime should be used to ensure all the lax reporting entities are updated, if not on the front line.
@Dr. Lucas
“@ Dame Bajans April 20, 2020 2:01 PM
The white potato was grown extensively in Barbados during the 1960’s.”
I was not aware of this. I left in the mid-sixties. It was probably around or after I left. I showed one of my cousins in the country, how to cut off the eyes with a little potato attached and plant it. She said the monkeys dug them up and ate them. They grow near the surface and she probably did not mound.
My slips are ready and my purple, pink and yellow flesh have all sprouted and some have small shoots. I will be planting those this week as cold weather does not harm them. As long as the soil is workable you can plant potatoes.
I don’t know, but it seems to me some of these overseas Bajans are sorry more of us haven’t sickened and died just so they could have the satisfaction of being proven right.
Sorry guys! We are still here!
PS. Some jackass that can’t read and comprehend is here proving my point for me.
Sorry! Wrong blog! The jackass was proving my point on another blog.
Critical Analyzer April 20, 2020 9:51 AM
The food situation will not change until farmers stand on their own feet and stop depending on government to chart their destiny.
The corporations of this world don’t wait on government. They do what they have to do to get things done or they fail. Farmers have to get together and form a single massive co-operative type company to look after their own interests.
Through that company farmers would be able to employ dedicated staff to properly market and distribute their produce freeing them to concentrate on farming. Said company would then be able to use the profits to research and develop new technology, fund and publish studies into the benefits of their own produce and effectively lobby government like all the other corporations do.
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Exactly.
Despite their relative small size and other short comings, countries like Holland, Israel, and New Zealand punched have way above their weight in agriculture production, export and research. Even Ireland have a very robust export-focused agro-processing industry.
@Fortyh
The Israeli agricultural business grew out of Kibbutzim, New Zealand farmer concentrated on producing lamb and the geography of Holland and their world war two experience shaped their view of agriculture.
In Barbados we tried to be world class and punch above our weight in other ways. We have over 100000 acres of land and that has to be divided up in to residential, roads, recreational and agricultural.
Apart from the Deep Water Harbour, the land does not expand. But out demand for a certain kind of lifestyle, including the Heights and Terraces and the gated communities, means that the growing middle class has put pressure on land use and so vast areas of land that were plantations up until the 1960s had a change of use in to residential spaces to meet these needs. The was a mainly political decision and a failure to use our traditional residential space creatively.
We must go back to basics, stop the abuse of planning regulations and then think through what is best for us to produce, considering we cannot produce all our needs.
Whatever we do, we cannot compete with the big agri-chemical businesses such as Monsanto or the big nations, such as Argentina. We must also follow through with distribution by making the marketing board the only distributor of agricultural products in the island. Do not allow hotels and big supermarkets to import their own produce.
It is perverse to provide hotels and supermarkets with tax breaks when they are importing nearly all their food from overseas.
We can start by taking ALL unproductive plantations in to state ownership.
The Bretton wood agreement with the formation IMF and GATTS now called WTO, was deliberately design to fuel capitalisic consumerism at any cost. Countries, even very poor ones , are able to run huge balance of payment deficit, importing everthing under the sun.This is made possible because the IMF is there as lender of last resort. Intensive Import consumption and market choices are seen as progress, prosperity, and the highest form of civilisation.
@HAL. Well said.
@ Forty
No one puts a gun to our heads and tells us to buy Kyffin’s cars, or build mini-palaces, or Italian kitchens. It is the price we pay for our greed and avarice.
Bretton Woods was meant mainly to rebuild Europe after the war, and it worked. The price Europe paid was to make the US the first super state.
We must look at ourselves and not at others. In the 1960s, after the Korean war, South Korea was poorer than Barbados; in 1965 Singapore was a swamp, not even wanted by Malaysia; look at Taiwan then.
All these countries leapfrogged us and moved on, not only in the manufacture of goods, but also in services and education. We do not need to go back to independence.
Owen Arthur was prime minister for 14 years, the DLP controlled the government for a further 10 and Mottley now for two, a total of 26 years. Had we transformed our educational system when Arthur came to power, anyone under the age of 30 would have had a genuine world class education and that generation would now be the drivers of the economy. That is our failure, the failure of our political and business leaders, not of foreign capitalism.
Now what is this government proposing about the inadequate educational system? Levelling down by abandoning the 11+, rather than making exams tougher. What is the focus of our teachers? Going on strike.
@ Hal
We need to have more confidence in our regional ability to feed ourselves. We are constantly looking at models outside the region and in many cases they simply do not work. Do we know what is the total vegetable production of regional small farmers? What are the meat , poultry needs of the region? What will be the major features of a regional food program? These are vital statistics we need before this food problem can be solved. What are the rice needs of the region? Can we have all the fertilizer needs produced within the region? Can the region become self sufficient in breakfast cereals by using agro products from within the region? What about fish?
@ William
You are right. We have more than enough to feed ourselves. Our problem is the poverty of ideas and thinking regionally. We are in the early stages of the death of the nation-state.
Whatever happened to Arrowroot flour? What happens to the cacao produced in St Lucia, Grenada and other islands? I will tell you, I can buy St Lucian chocolates in Borough Market but cannot in Castries. Guyana is a basket case.
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is owned by the Japanese? We have talked before about our only world class product, rum. Since 1966 not a single government has done anything about developing our rum industry. I called for a legal definition of Barbadian (Bajan) rum and some people screamed. Unless we do Barbadian rum will become a generic term like Demerara sugar.
No government, BLP or DLP, can say ideas have not been out on the table. The problem is that our political and business leaders are of the same mindset, they think alike. All they see is tourism, offshore business and lawyering.
Look at the problems the president has. She has three top notch economic consultants, two highly qualified junior economic ministers and yet, to plan post-CoVid recovery, she wants another committee, made up in part of two former politicians, who themselves failed when in office.
To criticise this merry go round one is accused of disloyalty to the country of one’s birth; of being disrespectful to our leaders; of not know Barbados and its needs.
Any excuse for not looking ourselves in the eye.
Monkeys have been a bane to farmers in recent years. There is a video making the rounds on WhatsApp of a monkey being burnt alive. It has raised a hue and a cry.
Discuss for 5 marks.
Why would somebody want to burn a monkey alive just for doing what monkeys do? That cruel person should be dealt with by the law. There is a humane way to deal with the monkey problem. We can cull the population without causing them unnecessary pain.
Quick death!
Dr. Lucas,
Thanks for the dry grass tip. Just as I was getting a little discouraged they peeked out at me this morning. There I was telling my son that the only thing growing was the chives and I caught sight of a little greenery between the dry grass. That was a great feeling, i must tell you.
If people knew that feeling awaited them I’m sure more people would start to grow their own food.
Hi Donna,
I didn’t realize that you were so smart. It seems as if GP2 was having an adverse effect on you.
Glad to see you up to your normal speed
🙂
@ Donna April 21, 2020 4:06 PM
“We can cull the population without causing them unnecessary pain.”
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How about putting them to good culinary use in keeping with the same reason why the green monkey was brought to Barbados from West Africa?
The monkeys were not brought to the ‘West Indies’ on sailing ships as pets to keep the company of the human cargo onboard but- like the ‘lowly’ breadfruit- as a source of food and nutrition (bush meat) for the landed slaves.
If Bajans can devour Chinese-made foods containing all kinds of exotic concoctions, why can’t they, the lovers of macaroni pie, make a meal out of a ready-source of animal protein?
If not they can always capture the monkeys for export to the wet markets in China to be turned into medicines and sexual enhancers like the brush hiding the man in the glasses.
For whatever the randy Bajan monkey can do, the Chinese man can do too; even if it means raising the dead of Covid–infected diabetics in Bim.
Was waiting on more info to address this blog.
Miller…watch this 3-0…with the bigger countries being 3…
Dependency tourism is OFFICIALLY GONE…and will never be the same again.
Denmark has OFFICIALLY decided to refuse their companies that use tax havens to avoid paying taxes to get any bail out money DURING THE PLAGUE and they have encouraged UK to do the same, just a matter of time before all the other countries that have companies who EVADE TAXES will ALSO FALL IN LINE…. so now the international business game is also ABOUT TO BE GONE…and will never be the same again….
So on top of all that bad news that is certainly no laughing matter, the EU decided AFTER BREXIT to clamp down on UK owned territories, that are KNOWN tax havens……and that was EVEN BEFORE THE PLAGUE…
https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A2KLfR48HqBeRj8AxE5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNWJxb3RhBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDQjk5MTVfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1587580605/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.msn.com%2fen-gb%2fnews%2fuknews%2fin-wake-of-brexit-eu-to-put-cayman-islands-on-tax-haven-blacklist%2far-BBZXOqJ/RK=2/RS=ZGJrhBqqiizxUQoimd0o7rawROM-
So where does that leave DEPENDENT ISLANDS like Barbados whose governments do not and NEVER wanted their PEOPLE to be self-sufficient in the area of food, business, agriculture ….NOTHING…who enable and encourage DEPENDENCY in everything…to keep the PEOPLE AS PAUPERS, BEGGING AND BORROWING…while the greedy minorities live off their backs//
Well the FOWLS cannot tell us anything, it’s way above their low pay grade…..maybe the more ENLIGHTENED among us can ASK Mia……SO WHAT NOW?? now that she has REFUSED to allow HER PEOPLE to have the marijuana and has been ACCUSED of selling it out to corrupt, parasitic minorities….who CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITH IT ANYWAY, during a PLAGUE…oh KARMA…
just look at the 0.
Stupse!
Donna I am glad to see you are trying your hand at gardening, well if the green monkey is in your area you would see why persons may rejoice at the burning. They are the biggest pests affecting agriculture in Barbados. They will pull up everything that you plant to see if it is edible.
The consumption of monkey meat is not as laughable as it sounds. Well controlled slaughtering of monkeys for both local and export should be considered. I have eaten monkey meat and found nothing wrong with it. We must also move swiftly to get rabbit production on the same scale as chickens.
In order to dampen local demand for imported food , we must look at increasing : ducks , turkey and pigeons. We must have more choices and be exposed to the consumption of all that we produce.
The Ministers of Agriculture in the last 40 years have all failed in improving the food security of Barbados. The Ministry of Agriculture always seems to get a Minister who is not interested in Agriculture. The last one was the worst. It maybe a good idea to bring someone who was actually involved in large scale agricultural production through the Senate as the Minister of Agriculture.
@Lest we forget April 22, 2020 9:37 PM
You have summed it up correctly.
@ Hal April 21, 2020 1:53 PM and April 21, 2020 2:27 PM
Profound words indeed. Apart of the problem is the fact that a lot of Barbadians who were born after independence are sycophants seeking sinecures. They judge people based on the accumulation of material things. When in position to change things, they are afraid of losing their sinecures and therefore become ass-lickers. Of course, they then try to decry others ,one can even witness it on this Blog.
@ Donna April 21, 2020 4:15 PM
I am glad that the carrot seeds have germinated. Do not start to thin them out until they are about the three-four leaves stage. You can hand weed or if do not want to hand weed, you can apply kerosene oil to get rid of the weeds. If you follow the latter course, you will have to stop applying kerosene about mid-way through the growth cycle depending on the cultivar being used. This is done to prevent carrots from having a kerosene taste.
@ Robert
It was not always thus, as you know. I think |I raised this with you before, but I remember a Mr Sealy, a rounded, brown-skinned man who wore short khaki shorts, long brown socks, who was incredibly competent and helpful.
We formed a 4-H club in Howells X Road, and he was the officer in charge; incredibly tolerant of young men and women playing at grown ups. I always remember his acts of kindness.
@ William
They used to eat, or allegedly so, monkey meat in St Kitts. Back in the 50s a number of Barbadian cane-cutters went to St Kitts and claimed they were fed monkey meat. Must admit I ate meat in St Kitts, but it could have been anything.
@ Hal April 23, 2020 3:41 AM
You are referring to bright eyes. When he was in charge of the 4-H it really flourished. They were trips abroad and so on, He was a very good tenor and sang in an Anglican Church choir. As a matter of fact he encouraged me to write the bulletin on ” Some Grafting and Budding Techniques.” .As he said. I should not allow others to take my dues especially those of a different hue.
@ Hal April 23, 2020 3:44 AM
Talking about eating wild animals, I have had iguana( eggs and all) in Trinidad and Manicou in Grenada. I cannot really say that I am a fan, but as a food scientist, one has to sample exotic foods. The Manicou had a gamey taste. The gamey taste in wild meat is actually amplified the more you cook it. Low and slow is the name of the game. The Iguana eggs tasted like popcorn.
@ Robert
I thought he was a very decent man. About exotic foods. There is a Vietnamese restaurant off Tottenham Court Road in London that sells all kinds of strange animals on its menu. Strangely, its lunchtimes are (were) always fully booked.
I had some grasshoppers etc there on a couple occasions.
@ Hal April 23, 2020 8:13 AM
Do you remember the geography book ” A world survey from the human aspect : A Systematic regional geography, vol. 3″ by J.F. Unstead? Some how that just pop into my head reading your post. It was written from a very derogative aspect. It was mainly about human and economic geography and was used in fourth form at Combermere. It talked by the highlands of Kenya being suitable for habitation by Europeans and described some blacks of having pepper corn variety of hair. The book has always bothered me from the aspect of how other races think of blacks.
@HA
It was not always thus, as you know. I think |I raised this with you before, but I remember a Mr Sealy, a rounded, brown-skinned man who wore short khaki shorts, long brown socks, who was incredibly competent and helpful.
++++++++++++++
I am struggling to remember his first name but his nickname was “Bright Eyes”.
BTW he was a member of Spartan Cricket Club (and an avid cricket fan) of which you are so disdainful.
Apologies for duplication of the nickname provided by R Lucas
@ Robert
I do not remember the book, but I know the thinking. I once read a UK court report on a Jamaican criminal that said he was a good guy if only he kept away from his own kind – by that the author meant other black people.
That kind of racism is often normalised in the literature and young black people taking exams often repeat it by rote. It is important to dehumanise people if you want to humiliate them.
@ Sargeant
Plse remind me, you are a Kolij man. By referring to the history of Spartan cricket club does not mean that ALL Spartan people are bad. Mr Sealy was a very decent and encouraging man.
The history is Spartan has been well-written by one of your Bajan-Canadians, Keith Sandiford. My theory is that the social history of organised cricket in Barbados tells us everything we want to know about our island home. Read it. It tells you why a cricket match between Spartan and Empire is not just a cricket match. Ask Viv Richards if a match between West Indies and England was just a game.
It is like saying Mark Carney should not have been appointed governor of the Bank of England or Canada should not be a member of the G&, and that has somehow become a dislike of Canada and Canadians.
@HA
Kolig? Don’t even know where that is and writing that Sealy was a member of Spartan wasn’t meant to cast aspersions of his character, it was simply a memory of his vociferous cheering for the Club on a Saturday afternoon from the pavilion in Queens Park.
BTW I have an acquaintance who was a member of Spartan CC when PL was captain and who sometimes remind us of his introduction to the Club and his not so fond memories of it but “Bright Eyes” is given hero status in the retelling.
@ Sargeant
Kolij. Spartan was never on my radar. All I know of Spartan was the ‘betrayal’ by Wesley Hall when he joined the club. But that was settled years ago when Seymour Nurse and Francis Scott gave him so many lashes as he ran in from the hospital end (with big Mayers, ex Lodge) from the college end.
The most spectacular bit of cricket in human history. Then Ralph Walker (college end) and Charlie Griffith (hospital end) ripped through their top order (Smith, Lashley, et al). Won’t watch Spartan play any other team if it was outside the gates of Heaven.
But Mr Sealy was (is?) a decent human being; he was the first Barbadian professional I had ever met who was prepared to share his knowledge with young boys and girls still green behind the ears. He left a lasting impression on me. It tells me things can be done differently. Fifty years later it is still the same old, same old in Barbados.
@ Sargeant April 23, 2020 9:02 AM
Decoursey Sealy
@ Hal April 23, 2020 9:53 AM
In those days it was the back-foot rule. These youngster would holler for murder having to face fast bowlers using the back-foot rule.