est. 2007

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Praedial Larceny
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Is Food Security a Priority?

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…

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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.

<object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://barbadosunderground.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/praedial-larceny-act-tt.pdf&quot; type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of <strong>Praedial Larceny Prevention ActPraedial Larceny Prevention Act.Download

45 responses to “Is Food Security a Priority?”

  1. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    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.

  2. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Slavery for some. Freedom for others! Garden of Peace, here I come!

  3. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ 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?

  4. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ 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.

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Wasn’t there a plan to plan 1 million trees?

  6. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    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.

  7. David Avatar
    David

    The reluctance by the usual suspects to touch this topic is indicative of the challenge.

  8. GP Avatar
    GP

    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?

  9. C₂₁H₃₀O₂ Avatar
    C₂₁H₃₀O₂

    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

  10. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Food security is not a priority but wen de hurricane come !!!!!

  11. John2 Avatar
    John2

    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 ?

  12. John2 Avatar
    John2

    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

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @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.

  14. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    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.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @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.

  16. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    Agree entirely, David.

  17. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    @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.

  18. David Avatar
    David

    @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.

  19. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    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.

  20. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    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/

  21. David Avatar
    David

    Thieves/monkeys wreak havoc on crops

    https://starcomnetwork.net/blog/2022/03/09/thieves-monkeys-wreak-havoc-on-crops/

  22. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    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.

  23. David Avatar
    David

    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 .

  24. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ 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!

  25. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @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.

  26. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @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.

  27. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @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.

  28. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    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.

  29. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    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.

  30. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    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”

  31. David Avatar
    David

    Accused sweet potato thieves remanded
    TWO MEN accused of stealing thousands of dollars in ground provisions from Applewhaite’s Plantation were remanded to prison when they appeared in the District “B” Boarded Hall Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
    Rico Omar Drayton, 32, of Turton’s Gap, Government Hill, St Michael, and Trevon Orlando Farley, 26, of Seales Land, Government Hill, St Michael, were jointly charged with stealing 72 rods of sweet potato, valued at $1 440, belonging to the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), between January 28 and 29; stealing 93 rods of sweet potato, worth $1 860, belonging to BADMC, on February 4; stealing 63 rods, worth $1 260, on February 2; stealing 74 rods, valued at $1 480, on February 24 and stealing 14 rods, between February 28 and March 1, valued at $2 810.
    Drayton was solely charged with fraudulent use of number plates and failing to register a vehicle.
    They pleaded not guilty to the charges. Station Sergeant Glenda Carter-Nicholls objected to the two being released on bail, pointing
    to the number of charges. She argued that society needed to be protected from the accused.
    The prosecutor said another person was being sought in connection with the matters.
    Magistrate Douglas Frederick remanded the accused to Dodds Prison.
    The accused, who were represented by attorney Safiya Moore, will reappear in court on April 6.

    Source: Nation

  32. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    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.

  33. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @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.

  34. Dame+Bajans Avatar
    Dame+Bajans

    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.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    New slogan: ‘Act now, consult later’
    The conflict in Ukraine should remind us once again of the wickedness of politicians who, once they get power, care only about satisfying their egos. It is inexcusable that politicians failed to resolve this issue without bloodshed.
    The conflict in Ukraine should also remind us that one-party government is temptation for a dictatorship. The back-tofront, cart-before-the-horse declarations which have now become the established pattern must make us all wonder, and shudder, at what might be coming next.
    We rushed into a republic; will talk about it later. Sir David Simmons calls that approach “novel”. I call it terrifying. Sir David is also against having a referendum. He was “angry” as a student in Britain when Jamaicans went to referendum and opted out of the federation in 1961.
    True to form, our back-to-front Government has now trotted out a version of what our education system will look like without, believe it or not, consulting the teachers’ union! Full details of “academies” and “two more” (God help us) years in school. Professor Michael Howard has pleaded for clarification on obviously unexplained areas.
    But Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw apparently sees no problem. “The union is jumping the gun,” she says, “as nothing is set in stone and consultation is around the corner!” Another “novel approach”, Sir David? Sounds like madness to me.
    Politicians consider us wise when we elect them, but thereafter we’re complete idiots on everything else.
    The present 11-Plus system has allowed bright children from the poorest backgrounds to go to schools where their talents take them into academic futures. The mistake, in my opinion, is to force children who have no interest in such to try to compete. Many who left school early and developed themselves in various trades and businesses have become our most productive citizens.
    Anyhow, let me speak in defence of my friends, the Barbados monkeys, before James Paul sends in the killers. Our monkeys were brought here from West Africa against their will about 350 years ago. In recent times they have multiplied and spread throughout the island, reaping crops they did not plant. This situation is untenable.
    However, the monkeys are not alone. Human crop thieves also wreak havoc with farmers’ crops. Sugar cane thieves boldly take their fill to sell at fancy prices. Some coconut takers once told me that all land belongs to their Father Jah and they were entitled to pick whatever they wanted on my land. Can you blame monkeys
    for thinking likewise?
    I rejoice to see monkeys in my field because it usually means the stray dogs which kill my goats aren’t around. They even make a peculiar sound when dogs are in the area and are welcome to take whatever they want on my property. There are endless acres of land between Morgan Lewis and Foster’s Funland where no one is growing crops. So why are the monkey hunters killing them in these areas? Why should we be awakened on Sunday mornings to blasts of nearby gunfire?
    And have we explored more humane avenues? Canada is taking lots of our stray dogs. How about asking our new African friends to take back their monkeys? With 50 million monkeys in India, the article on Controlling Monkey Menace (https://diragrijmu. nic.in/Advisories/Controlling%20 Monkey%20Menace.pdf) describes several innovative deterrent methods, (including one farmer who painted his dog in tiger colours. He hasn’t seen a monkey since!) It concludes: “Cruel and barbaric control methods like killing are inexcusable”.
    I agree one hundred per cent. My great fear is that our “act now, consult later” leaders will arrive back from Ghana with a planeload of 1 000 monkey-eating leopards to solve the problem. We will get to have our say on where to release them later.
    Yet another “novel approach”.

    Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator. Email porkhoad@gmail.com.

    Source: Nation

  36. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    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?”

  37. John Avatar
    John

    Can’t work.

    They eat monkeys over there but not over here.

    The monkeys will protest.

  38. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    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.

    .

  39. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Read without the errors, please!

  40. GP Avatar
    GP

    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.

  41. Dame+Bajans Avatar
    Dame+Bajans

    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.

  42. David Avatar
    David

    Call to help farmers grow more food

    By Tony Best
    As the war in Ukraine intensifies, threatening the global economy, Barbadian expert in agriculture Dr Chelston Brathwaite is calling on local officials to consider helping farmers to grow more food to feed residents.
    He believes this move, if undertaken by the Mottley administration, could reduce food imports as it did during the Second World War, cut the use of foreign exchange, boost food security and ultimately kick-start a stalled Barbados economy.
    That proposed strategy was outlined by Brathwaite, Director-General Emeritus of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture IICA, who said if Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine continued for an extended period of time, it could cause economic damage in Barbados and its neighbours by undermining the region’s tourism industry, preventing the island-nations from attaining their cherished goal of having food security while grappling with the economic turmoil caused by an escalating cost of living.
    He said: “We could have a significant (and negative fallout) if the war situation (in Ukraine) continues. You will remember that during the Second World War here in Barbados legislation was passed to mandate plantations to plant a percentage of their lands in food crops. That was a very important move in terms of helping with the food security of the nation at that time.
    Strengthen programme
    “It was reported to be a very effective way to solve the food security problem then,” he added. “Maybe the current (Mottley) Government needs to strengthen its programme in the farmer enfranchisement initiative in order to give farmers an opportunity to provide a higher level of food availability for Barbados. This would be very important contribution to food security if farmers were given incentives to provide (more) food.
    He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could not have come at a more challenging time for the region.
    For instance, Barbados and other CARICOM membercountries were just beginning to emerge from the economic doldrums that were traceable to the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
    “In times of war, people travel less, even if for recreation, because a lot of people don’t want to be caught by a war being far away from home. Therefore, the current (military) crisis could negatively impact the tourism industry which right now is in a state of recovery after the lockdown due to COVID-19. It is just beginning to show positive signs in many Caribbean countries, including Barbados. A war could have a negative impact on that recovery. Since tourism is a major driver of many Caribbean economies a reduction in tourism income would result in less money being available to buy food for families in every part of the world’s newest republic.
    Strategic sector
    Brathwaite described agriculture as a “strategic sector” of the local economy and called on Government to:
    • Promote food and nutrition
    security” in the interest of “our survival.”
    • Allocate more of public
    sector resources on agriculture.
    • Invest additional
    Government funds in technology,
    training and research designed to expand food production.
    • Seek to “change the pattern
    of consumption,” moving from dependence on imported products to locally grown crops that would spur greater consumer concentration on domestic purchases.
    • Encourage the private
    sector, the major importer of food, to invest more in local food production rather than spending their money abroad. “They need to spend their money on local farmers and help to make the country more sustainable, more resilient to external shock, to which we are constantly being exposed.”
    He said the time had come to put food security at the top of our development agenda.
    “This strategic approach would include the establishment of appropriate institutional structures, programmes and projects designed to promote a green revolution in Barbados,” he stated in a published paper.
    “The promotion of a green revolution would take into consideration the fact that climate change is a defining issue of our time,” asserted the former diplomat. “Rising sea levels and more frequent occurrences of extreme weather events such as droughts, flood and violent storms have been occurring.”
    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resulting bombings of major cities, mounting casualties, restrictions on Russia’s involvement in the global financial systems and the banning of Russian oil and gas exports are being blamed for skyrocketing global inflation which is having a major impact on gasoline prices around the world, Barbados included.
    A country of almost 45 million people, Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat and corn and the war is expected to trigger increases in the costs of bread, breakfast cereals and meat products as far away as Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean.


    Source: Nation

  43. David Avatar
    David

    Some farmers unhappy with new water rates
    by SHERIA BRATHWAITE sheriabrathwaite@nationnews.com
    SOME LAND LEASE FARMERS say the new water rates set by Government will put even more pressure on them.
    During the Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals presented by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mia Amor Mottley on Monday, it was announced that a fixed water rate of $1.80 per cubic metre across the agricultural sector will be introduced effective May 1.
    While this was considered as a big win for farmers who acquire water from the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) at a commercial rate, it is being seen as a major setback for the land lease farmers.
    Triple the amount
    The Garbage and Sewage Collection levy, introduced in 2018, sees commercial entities, including farming enterprises, paying the equivalent of 50 per cent of their water bill, with half that amount going to the Sanitation Service Authority for garbage collection and the other half to the BWA, while those on the BWA commercial rate were paying as much as triple the amount they would normally pay.
    However, farmers and crop producers of farming districts who benefit from the water subsidy from the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation through the Land Lease Programme, pay about 66 cents per cubic metre.
    They are lamenting that the new water rate will further disadvantage them, as the price for most, if not all, of the key inputs have increased.
    “Everything has gone up. [Government] has not looked to put anything in place to help shield farmers and now they came and did this.
    This puts us in a very precarious situation, especially since there is an international conflict going on and we don’t know what the outcome will be,” said chairman of the Spring Hall Farmers’ Association, Hamilton Corbin.
    No talk on ease
    “Right now I don’t have the entire ground plant up and I pay a (water) bill in the range of $800/$900 monthly. But for full production you are looking at something from $1 500 to $2 200 or more. So you can imagine how much I will have to pay with this increase. I ain’t hear any talk of easing farmers with the increase of inputs, but now we are faced with this,” he said.
    Another farmer, who also cultivates land at the Spring Hall Land Lease project in St Lucy, but did not want to be identified, said the new rate will only benefit a group of farmers but leave the others vulnerable.
    “This rate is only good for those using BWA commercial water but for us it’s almost triple.
    It is a heavy burden and it could be very detrimental, especially since everything from fertiliser, chemicals and seeds gone up,” he told the MIDWEEK NATION.
    “Much thought could not have gone into this.
    So all the talk about encouraging the nation to eat more healthily by buying more local food and asking the farmers to grow more was just pure talk? On average, if I fully plant up, I pay about $500 [in water]; and that is also based on what I put in. If I put in onions the water bill goes up to about $1 000.” In the Pine Basin, St Michael, small farmer Jairam Tulsieram said he too was concerned.
    “This is a real big hit because it is a lot of money you have to pay – 66 cents to $1.80 is
    a big jump. I have three acres and I pay about $400/$500 a month, so now with the increase it could go in the $2 000 range. “I don’t know how farming will go ’cause the way it is going now you are only working to pay off expenses. Then in the Pine Basin we got a lot of thieves too, so I don’t know how it will work out but I will hope for the best,” Tulsieram said.
    Spokesman for a group of 50 farmers at River Plantation in St Philip, Jason Craigg, said some of the farmers there will now be paying for water for the first time, as they usually sourced it from a stream that flowed from Three Houses Spring.
    “This is a huge jump for those who especially farm large acres. People who use commercial water, they would obviously rejoice, they stand to benefit more. I think this was done to put everybody on a level playing field more or less.
    “I think this is a good time to put more pressure on Government if we are really serious about food security.
    Government has been talking about food security since the dawn of COVID-19 but I think it acts with knee-jerk reactions.
    It’s a lot of talk.
    Sometimes, farmers could be more responsible in the way they do business, but there are certain things farmers need in place to make farmers more confident to grow a lot more,” Craigg said.

    Source: Nation

  44. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    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.

    🙂

  45. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    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.

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