Submitted by Kammie Holder

Selfish, unpatriotic, heartless, self serving are but a few choice adjectives that could be attributed to companies within Barbados who would import pumpkin amidst a glut in Barbados. 

Some of these said companies are the same ones who often suck on the nipples of taxpayers via government for economic relief and concessions. Where is your sense of corporate social responsibility? Barbados as a country has always respected Caricom and WTO free trade treaties as required and will continue to respect international agreements as an orderly democracy.

Thus, the least the corporate maguffies and selfish importers could have done is to negotiate with local farmers if they really cared about their workers, workers families and Barbados.  I am not one who believes in carte blanche home drums beat first mantra, for profit and corporate social responsibility must go hand in hand. Would it make sense to have cheap energy generation from a nuclear power plant that spills its nuclear waste water into the surrounding sea, destroying the marine life and livelihood of fisherfolk.

Hell no.

Its time enough, companies in Barbados understand that corporate social responsibility goes beyond just sponsoring fete and sports, as distractions from life’s struggles.

In lieu of the absence of strong oversight in the high casual usage of pesticides in farming  within Caricom I would like to humbly suggest the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry Of Health seeks to ascertain the pesticide residue of level of these pumpkins  to assure the public they are safe for human consumption.  Perhaps some arrogant indifferent person somewhere rather than act on concerns will dismiss concerns as self serving mischief. 

Let me say importers in Barbados need to do better and stop exploit the docility of Bajans whose nipples they have continuously sucked on and are now pre-cancerous. As importers and retailers you want Bajans to patronize local establishments over foreign ones, yet you turn around and exploit our loyalty. If the selfishness continues I shall personally mobilize a boycott of your establishments just as the Muslim are leading a boycott of french manufactured goods, do you can take this as an idle threat at your own peril.

Some day we will awaken from our self imposed slumber and stop seek pity as well as blame others for our lot in life. To live this life without a cause is to live a life without purpose. 

61 responses to “Pumpkins and Corporate Social Responsibility”


  1. “there were many vigorous “Buy Local” campaigns, what happened in the interim?”

    they will bombard you with “buy local” and then allow make it easy for their crooked friends to IMPORT DURING A GLUT.. effectively SABOTAGING YOUR ATTEMPTS,.just as they are doing now….assbackwards.


  2. No puddles for over an hour now. There is no substitute for good soil.


  3. Its with great pleasure I tell you over the years I have been able to eradicate every piece of grass from my property by decks and interlocking stone.I am actually in awe of people that like to garden and grow vegetables but it is not for me.
    Dame I always talk about the best beer I ever had, it was outside of the gates to Sam lords extremely hot day an ice cold banks out of a cooler in a little shop near the bus stop.


  4. Its with great pleasure I tell you over the years I have been able to eradicate every piece of grass from my property by decks and interlocking stone.I am actually in awe of people that like to garden and grow vegetables but it is not for me.
    Dame I always talk about the best beer I ever had, it was outside of the gates to Sam lords extremely hot day an ice cold banks out of
    a cooler in a little shop near the bus stop in 1982.


  5. I too have always been in awe of people who grow good food. I always longed to do it but didn’t think I could. Now I am doing it. Getting better every day.


  6. @Dame Bajans “Rain water seems to do something to the plants up here too, especially the greens, they double in size overnight. Maybe Dr.Lucas could tell us why.”

    I expect that it is the chlorine, maybe flouride etc. that is used to amend water to make it safe to drink,that makes it “less fertile’ for growing plants. But since the plants will be growing in dirt and cow, sheep, chicken manure etc. it is safe to grow food, especially food that will be cooked before being eaten.

    My old man used to say “the food int grow in a plastic bag on the supermarket shelf ya know.”


  7. I tried growing water melons once. I got one melon, about the size of a lime. Lol! Since then I have been scared to try again. Yet this year I grew pumpkins on the same spot and got nice, large pumpkins.

    I hope that robert is not sick


  8. Cuhdear Bajan,

    That still does not explain the difference in rain water from my watering can and straight from the skies.

    Hopefully Dr. Lucas just got fed up battling the few poppets who insulted him unnecessarily. We battled on some matters but not his area of expertise.


  9. a fella I worked with had a farm and grew giant pumpkins to show at the fair, he told me they could gain 30 pds a day


  10. Nonsense. In the UK you can get pumpkins all year round. The ones used for Halloween are of course vulgar and silly.


  11. @Artax

    That is a click and bait comment. Will be removed.

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