The conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the ramifications has brought into sharp focus the matter of food security in Barbados and the region. If we judge by the sums allocated in the Estimates over the years it is evident successive governments have been contented to pay lip service to the agriculture sector. It must be said that COVID 19 has seen greater effort to increase production in agriculture but it is not enough. The ongoing conflict has again exposed the region.
The blogmaster is aware a growing monkey population and praedial larceny continue to sabotage the effort of local farmers. It does not matter how much water you fill a bucket, if it has holes it will be a wasted effort. The small land space of Barbados means that a serious effort at implementing a food security plan must include collaboration with Caricom. It is good to see that Prime Minster Mottley and President Ali enjoy a good relationship. The relation must translate to something tangible.
See a copy of Trinidad’s Praedial Larceny Prevention Act.
WHY DOES BARBADOS CONTINUE down this food agriculture path, is it not obvious that GOVERNMENT considers AGRICULTURE COLONIAL SLAVERY and must be eliminated.
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX.
Slavery for some. Freedom for others! Garden of Peace, here I come!
@ Wily Coyote
Do you notice that too? We planting plastic water tanks. We planting unfruitful trees.; not even a breadfruit tree because the fruit is slave food. We planting photo voltaic panels. We adding 80 K persons to an already overpopulated landscape and no plans to feed us in a crisis. We putting our hopes on CARICOM members feeding us and quenching our thirst. . Look I going back on my soap box and preach some more cliches never mind there is no internal consistency of logic. How ah sound ,though? I leaving a legacy for David BU?
Wasn’t there a plan to plan 1 million trees?
@ Wily Coyote March 9, 2022 8:21 AM
Sadly true. Everyone wants to study to become either a lawyer or a politician.
That has to change. Surely John will be able to provide useful advice on plantation work from his great-great-great-grandfather’s diary.
We have had many, many plans: diversification of the economy, expansion of agriculture, currency reform, privatisation, dismantling of the civil service, etc.
Actually, there are only two facts:
first, tourism as the sole economic factor,
and second, that nothing ever changes.
When petrol will soon cost 6 BBD per litre, our natives will finally have to walk. Given the monstrous obesity of many natives, I think this is a very good thing.
The reluctance by the usual suspects to touch this topic is indicative of the challenge.
RE The reluctance by the usual suspects to touch this topic is indicative of the challenge.
WHY SHOULD ANYONE OPINE HERE?
IF YOU ARE A BAJAN NO ONE HERE TAKES YOU SERIOUSLY
WHEN I FIRST POSTED HERE ON A MEDICAL MATTER–I WAS TOLD THAT I WAS NOT CREME DE LA CREME OVERSEAS MEDICAL CULTURES
WHY SHOULD ANYONE OPINE HERE? UNLESS YOU BRING SOMETHING FROM AN OVESEAS RIGHT WING PUBLICATION
WHY SHOULD ANYONE OPINE HERE? UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR POST TEK DOWN OR YOU ARE WILLING TO BE CUSSED IF YOUR OPINION DOES NOT ACCORD WITH DAVID KING – THE NEW MEMBER OF THE OMNISCIENT GODHEAD
DIDNT WE RUN DR LUCAS?
Food for Thought / UB40
Ivory Madonna dying in the dust,
Waiting for the manna coming from the west
Barren is her bosom, empty as her eyes,
Death a certain harvest scattered from the skies
Skin and bones is creeping, doesn’t know he’s dead
Ancient eyes are peeping, from his infant head
Politician’s argue sharpening their knives
Drawing up their Bargains, trading baby lives
Ivory Madonna dying in the dust,
Waiting for the manna coming from the west
Hear the bells are ringing, Christmas on it’s way
Hear the angels singing, what is that they say?
Eat and drink rejoicing, joy is here to stay
Jesus son of Mary is born again today
Ivory Madonna dying in the dust,
Waiting for the manna coming from the west
Ivory Madonna dying in the dust,
Waiting for the manna coming from the west
aka
C₂₁H₃₀O₂
Marijuana
weed
pot
tea
Mary Jane
bud
ganja
herb
chronic
grass
dope
shit
Food security is not a priority but wen de hurricane come !!!!!
If what wily said is true then why did government waste money getting additional water for farmers in st Phillip and st Lucy and provide land for youth farmers and rastas in St. John ?
@John2
We are tired already of reading even hearing about initiatives. What we want to see is the needle moving on the indicator for a national agriculture output.
Bajan are not into growing their own like before. Check out Chefette and Burger King drive tru. Anyday and you will see the newATTITUDE of bajan
While it would be unrealistic for even small farmers (big ones too) to fully cover their fields with cameras, would it be feasible to have more stringent policing of each and everyone who sells produce. Some of those horrific fines that this government imposed for driving while using a cell phone, not wearing a mask or smoking in public etc.,could be attached to retailers large and small, for having produce in their possession that cannot be traced to its source? We sure as hell can’t police the entire island, especially when the thieves land before the courts and receive a suspended sentence or a fine of $200 in six months. Be reminded of a couple of years ago when the late Sir Charles Williams and his son apprehended men in one of their fields loading imported livestock into a truck. The court imposed punishment made a mockery of justice in Barbados. If we can’t lock up the thieves, let’s lock up the buyers.
@Fearplay
Your suggestion maybe part of the solution but the blogmaster would add licensing producers and sellers supported by rigorous enforcement is the way to go.
Agree entirely, David.
@David our suggestions will make it complicated for the back yard gardener who just wants to grow a few tomatoes or sweet peppers for the family and sell off the excess, but you know what? One misguided individual tried boarding a plane with a primitive bomb in his shoe and since that day, every traveler the world over has the inconvenience of having to remove their shoes for inspection when boarding a plane. Since we can’t learn how to live in harmony and leave others to reap the rewards of their hard labor, then we will all be treated with suspicion until we learn better.
@Fearplay
Where there is a will there is a way. We can establish an inspectorate to investigate randomly the source of produce sold by backyard farmers. No system is perfect, you want to catch the organized praedial larceny.
Let the fines be commensurate with the size of the department that has to deal with this. The fines should pay the salaries of all involved and not have to incur an additional expense on a treasury already stretched by circumstances.
The stolen produce was valued at $6,320. None of it was recovered.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/03/09/alleged-crop-thieves-remanded-to-dodds/
Thieves/monkeys wreak havoc on crops
https://starcomnetwork.net/blog/2022/03/09/thieves-monkeys-wreak-havoc-on-crops/
All that is needed is a rapid task force response like they do for drug landings where farmers alerted by their cameras or watchmen can call and catch them in the act.
When thieve realise that if the police response is swift and massive, they will have to think again about large scale theft.
The following link referred by Bentley who inspired this post.
https://youtube.com/c/eatahfood
Also he reminds us the T&T Act attached to this blog was enacted 1 year after their independence in 1962 to emphasize the importance to agriculture .
@ Hants March 9, 2022 3:19 PM
(Quote):
Food security is not a priority but wen de hurricane come !!!!!
(Unquote).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It seems your ‘long-at-sea’ food security ship has sighted land, finally!
If the pending massive increases in the cost of imported processed food as a result of the war in the Ukraine does not bring Barbadians to their agricultural senses and knees to pray for healthier diets then not even the cessation of IMF welfare loans can keep starvation away.
Barbados is the only country known to have abandoned so easily its main natural resource- that is, its flat arable land with a long-established underground irrigation system- while begging others for assistance to survive economically.
You will never see anywhere else in the world once well-tended fields in such an abandoned and deplorable condition.
Barbados was once described in the National Geographic magazine as the Eden of the West Indies.
Now what do we have today other than the garden of decay and despair!
@Tron March 9, 2022 9:28 AM “Sadly true. Everyone wants to study to become either a lawyer or a politician.”
Not me.
When I grow up I wanna be a rock star.
@GP March 9, 2022 12:09 PM “DIDNT WE RUN DR LUCAS?”
No we did not. How can a few words on BU run a hard backed man?
Actually we had no disagreement with Dr. Lucas’ science.
But we did have serious disagreement with his politics.
@David March 9, 2022 5:20 PM “We can establish an inspectorate to investigate randomly the source of produce sold by backyard farmers.”
I disagree.
Why do you want to impose an additional burden on we backyard farmers? Why do we need a “pass” as though we are in apartheid South Africa. We are the VICTIMS of the thieves. Please do not burden us with one more piece of paperwork, and an inspectorate paid for with our taxes.
Concentrate on catching the real-real thieves, do not burden the already victimized farmers.
The thing about farming is that it is not an entirely theoretical activity. After all the talking is done, after all the papers are written, after all the conferences have been attended, after the policy makers have made policy, those who are truly interested in growing food, still have to put their ACTUAL hands to an ACTUAL plough.
But we the people like nuff, nuff talk.
I like stories.
This one is about a young student at a highly regarded university. If you made a list of 10 of the most highly regarded universities in the world, the student’s university would be in the top half of that list. The student arrived at university [this was before millions of recipes appeared on the internet] and then discovered “oh shoot, I don’t know how to cook anything. Mommy has prepared good food for me for nearly 2 decades, and now I don’t know how to cook any of them”
Well mommy came to the rescue by mail and by telephone, but the very bright student still had to use actual hands to turn on an actual stove, to use an actual knife to peel and cut produce etc. Even if you are bright as shite, cooking is not theoretical.
Surgery is not entirely theoretical. Regardless of how much theory a surgeon knows she or he still has to take up an actual scalpel. Talking, and reading and writing about surgery is not enough.
Farming is not theoretical either. At some time farmers have to get their hands dirty [ok, ok, K know that gloves can be worn]
And we the people too love theorists.
The literal yardfowls are busy laying eggs in and eating assorted pests out of my field, but it push comes to shove one of more of those yard birds are going to end up in my pots of soup. I can slaughter, pluck and eviscerate a chicken faster that you can say “Jack Robinson”
Source: Nation
Seems as if a part of the problem is the unequal distribution of workers.
Much more willing to reap than to sow.
Government must work aggressively todissuade folks from reaping what they do not plant or own.
@DavidMarch 10, 2022 7:43 AM
In view of the increasing food theft, I advise all loyal subjects to build a swimming pool in the garden and plant palm trees and sow precious flowers only.
I put the remainder of my potato slips in soil today and have my eggplant seeds on the heat pad. I started goji berries and they are doing fine. The tomatoes are up. I transplanted a dozen tulsi (holy basil). I will give them a month to catch and hold their heads up and then I will sell them cheap, cheap, cheep to the Hindus. This herb seems to mean a lot in their religion. I saw it growing outside the temple in government hill. Me, I make tea with it.
Source: Nation
Let me be controversial
Warning.. phrases are taken out of context.
“Our monkeys were brought here from West Africa against their will about 350 years ago.”
“How about asking our new African friends to take back their monkeys?”
Can’t work.
They eat monkeys over there but not over here.
The monkeys will protest.
TheO,
If you saw it then you can bet he saw it
He has sympathy for monkeys but he where was his sympathy for Trayvon Martin. His column was in support of the Stand your Ground kind of law in the local context.
I’ll give him the “stray” dog argument. These delinquent dog owners need to be held to account. I share his desire for a alternative solutions to the monkey situation but monkeys do have to eat and so tiger-coloured dogs in every field will not deter them forever. They are smart enough to strategise.
BUT……. I find his columns are all about belittling black Bajans as though there is no good to be found in any of us.
I bet he thinks Barbados was better run in colonial times when white folk were the DICTATORS.
.
Read without the errors, please!
Hoad has written another one of his brilliant articles—-far superior to the rubbish spewed on BU daily.
If you folk were to have read the books kept by the plantocracy, it would be very clear that Barbados was better run in colonial times when white folk were the DICTATORS.The contemporary BLACK DICTATORS HAVE NOTHING MUCH TO LOSE. THE WHITE PLANTATION OWNERS HAD ALL TO LOSE, AND THEY WORKED TOGETHER TO SEE THAT OUR ECONOMY PROSPERED AND REMAINED INTACT..
The books of which I speak were consigned to a compost heap on the lawns of a great house at Shop Hill around year end in 1997.
They made very interesting reading.
THIS IS SOUND DOCTRINE THAT CAN NOT BE REFUTED …..NOT THE DAILY FARE OF BU BOVINE EXCREMENT.
When talking about India, Hoad should have read more. Hannuman is a monkey god in India. There is a story in one of the Vedas about how he ran faster than the wind to warn of danger and save people. Monkeys in India are sacred. Whenever I go to the temple with my Indian friend I put some some money in the plate by Hannuman, the black monkey god. I also go to the library and read the Vedas. I can also borrow books from the Hindu Temple. They have a long and colourful history and the architecture is out of this world. What Cambodians don’t realize is that Angkor Wat was built by the Indians. The architecture is the same, the carvings the same.
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/30/btcolumn-more-to-agricultural-security-than-breaking-of-soil/
🙂
I was looking at the picture and it became obvious to me why “food security” will continue to be an issue in Barbados. Take a good look at the shovels and imagine the average Barbadian worker doing his darndest not to soil (pun intended) the beautifulribbon on his shovel. Productivity will be very low.
To separate themselves from those who will be doing actually work in the hot sun, these three jokers had to pretty-up their shovel. I am surprise they forgot to attach an umbrella and an air conditioning unit. to the shovel
TheOGazerts reporting from Albania.
🙂
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/17/recommendation-given-to-release-duo-kept-at-psychiatric-hospital-for-more-than-three-decades/
From BT
“He recommended that both men remain in the quarter-way house programme until those arrangements are finalised.
Dr Chase is set to give the court an update on the process on May 31.
In addressing the court, Pilgrim said he was of the view that “we are going to run ourselves into a danger if we hinge their liberty on the financial circumstances of, for example, the Barbados Government”.
“I am agreeing to this adjournment for the end of May for this part, but I think if these men are fit for release we are going to run ourselves into difficulty if we keep waiting for Government to provide housing for them if they are entitled on every other day to be released,” the attorney said.
Justice Worrell suggested that the court, in conjunction with the lawyers, might have to “find some way of jogging one of those ministries”.
“In other words, we don’t want to see them back here. That is what we have to tell them in very blunt language. . . because the doctors dealing with them have said . . . these men should be released. Please don’t bring them back into the court system,” he said.
—xx-
Let me add this
“The last Japanese soldier to formally surrender after the country’s defeat in World War Two was Hiroo Onoda. Lieutenant Onoda finally handed over his sword on March 9th 1974. He had held out in the Philippine jungle for 29 years”
–x–
Do you realized that the Japanese soldier who was running, ducking and dodging lasted a mere 29 years. Here we have two men who were in a hospital in Barbados and somehow “managed to avoid detection” for over 3 decades (34 and 42 years). What a feat?
Given that these two Bajans are unlikely to be men of wealth, it is incumbent on EVERY Barbadian national to ensure that these two unfortunate men are released, compensated and provided for. They cannot be allowed to fall through the cracks again and release at the end of May is the only solution.
I believe that Barbados can be a sweet place to live, but it irks me when in the face of so much injustice and brutality to citizens that some will come here and say that Barbados is sweet. Sweetness cannot be measured by how the politicians and their cronies live; the true and only yardstick must be how the poor and unfortunate are getting by and I can tell you that for many “it sucks”.
Justice cannot be measured by the harsh penalties impose on the less fortunate, but the length of time men like Norman Leroy Lynch are sentenced is a true measure.
We must reject the notion or appearance of two Barbadoses.