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Caribbean leaders seem helpless

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A recent Caribbean Food Security and Livelihoods Survey sponsored by CARICOM has exposed more than ever people of that the Caribbean region is under an existential threat. The “data collected over six survey rounds highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the effect of natural hazards on food security and livelihoods in the region“. 

A drill down to Barbados data confirms what citizens have been experiencing particularly as it pertains to the rising cost of living, availability of food and loss of income in particular.

Snapshot from the survey

It seems that leaders in the region – like a deer in headlights – have been shown to be powerless to implement counter policy measures to stave off exogenous threats. There is no need to be prolix, the existential threat is real.

See the full survey (use filters, top left to view the information of your preference).

Caribbean Food Security and Livelihoods Survey

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61 responses to “Caribbean leaders seem helpless”

  1. New Name Avatar
    New Name

    The word or name ‘Caribbean’ should be rebranded to the new name ‘Carried Away’ to honour and represent the African Slave Descendants Original Ancestors in the Anglo-American New World Trans Atlantic Slave Trade carried out by Kings and Royalty.

  2. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    What are the citizens doing about it? Is it not their individual responsibility to do their part?

  3. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    It is each citizens responsibility to address these issues.

  4. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    ok

  5. 1 Gold Star ⭐ Avatar
    1 Gold Star ⭐

    1 Gold Star ⭐
    I doth wonder who the serial one gold star marker down could be?

    Prime suspect is ‘Vincent Vincent Codrington’
    call it a hunch
    or a gut instinct
    or a working theory
    which will be assumed true
    until proven otherwise

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    You state the obvious and in theory holding elected officials to account should be apply but then warts start to fester on limbs of our democratic institutions.

  7. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    The contributor said nothing about elected officials.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    Where do you think accountability in a democracy is rooted?

  9. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    @DAVID

    Almost 7 years ago, Sandra Husbands was complaining about ‘some families are being forced to resort to ramen noodles and sardines for breakfast…’

    SEE: https://www.facebook.com/BarbadosToday/videos/ramen-economy/10154493269543191/

    I grew up in Barbados as a young boy going to school and my recollection is that “FOOD” was always there in whatever measure it was “PRODUCED” & provided…

    No one was hungry or without food. Plant-based food was there even if grass-fed meat products were only a “SUNDAY MEAL” (exempting “PORK” of course which was a Saturday staple for families based on “SLAVE” tradition) or the local fishermen at “OISTINS” came in with their catch that was sold on as soon as it landed…

    In all my visits to Barbados in the last 30+ years, food has always been there in abundance given the island’s resources but what I believe has been at issue is the fact that “SELF-SUSTAINING-SUFFICIENCY has not kept pace with changing global trends and this “FETISH” for “FOREIGN IMPORTS” and the fiscal drain on foreign exchange and the sobering reality of living up with the Joneses…

    Moreover, GOVs have not “SOLD A VISION” for “FOOD SECURITY” – expecting that the “SEALES, GODDARDS et al would ensure the gastronomic survival of the masses given their need to maintain and keep up the “APPEARANCE” of modernity!!!

    As a result, in 2023, the “COST OF LIVING HAS GONE UP STRATOSPHERICALLY” & “THE CHANCES OF LIVING HAVE GONE DOWN DRAMATICALLY…”

    And now that the whole world has had a “WAKE UP CALL” – the “JOSEPHS” in the land (like my “PRECIOUS” wife) who have been able to buy and store up so much food in the last 3 years that she is able to send home to Barbados barrels of food for her family (notably, siblings) and “OTHERS” – is still able to feed folks right here in this country (the 5th richest nation on earth) where families are struggling to even “PAY 4 XMAS”!!!

    Fools think “MONEY” is wealth! Actually, “WISDOM” is “RICHES” far beyond the commodification of “USELESS PLASTIC MONEY” and as the ole’ adage goes: “GIVE A MAN A FISH & HE WILL FEED HIMSELF TODAY! GIVE HIM A FISHING ROD & TEACH HIM TO FISH & HE WILL FEED HIMSELF & OTHERS FOR A LIFETIME…”

    Sadly, “WHERE THERE IS NO VISION – THE PEOPLE PERISH…” (Proverbs 29:18)

    In the most “LITERATE COUNTRY” on earth, one has to truly wonder why “COMMONSENSE” is not on the “ACADEMIC CURRICULUM” but as the saying goes: “COMMONSENSE IS NOT VERY COMMON”…

    #HistoricalScripture opined that “In the #Dayz of ‘PRINCE JOSEPH’, when all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘#Go2Joseph and do what he tells you.’ For when the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt and the people cried out because of their hunger and the fact that their means had dwindled to such a degree that they had to eventually “SELL” their own sons & daughters for a morsel of meal (CORN)…”

    In the “IMMORTAL WORDS” of Frank Rich: “History is cyclical, and it would be foolhardy to assume that the culture wars will never return…”

    Let me add a “CLAUSE” to Rich’s assertion: “THE WAR IS NOW SPIRITUAL”…

    Here’s Dr. Evan Fraser on a “HARSH REALITY” coming to a country near you (IF IT HAS NOT ALREADY OCCURED IN YOURS)!!!

  10. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    The people/citizens.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @TB

    An expanding middle class has influenced changing attitudes to that way of life; how we use to prioritize back in that period.

  12. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    @DAVID

    THIS IS BRITAIN IN LIVE & LIVING COLOR!!!

    THE 5TH RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!

    Here’s the effects of the “COST OF LIVING CRISIS”…

    If this is “NOT” a “WAKE UP CALL” – then what else has to happen???

    # SOCIAL ANARCHY & MELTDOWN???

    #StayTunedBRUH*

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Our problem is that we have a generation fed a life based on a ‘sandy economic policy’ of borrowing, running budget deficits etc. then add the adversarial political system driven by a need for political parties to hunt popularity and what do you have? The tail wagging the dog.

  14. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    Britain “IMPORTED” (#PlayOnWords) according to the “OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS” (#ONS) – the provisional estimate of total long-term immigration for year ending (YE) June 2023 was 1.2 million, while emigration was 508,000, meaning that net migration was 672,000; most people arriving to the UK in the YE June 2023 were non-EU nationals (968,000), followed by EU (129,000) and British (84,000) as of 23rd Nov 2023…

    Now housing is the major factor on this little island sandwiched between the “North Sea” & the “Atlantic Ocean” where everyone lauds this idea of a “GREEN & PLEASANT LAND” where no one wants to see a single house being built in their front or back yard…

    We already have this growing problem of “LANDLORDS” buying up properties & turning them into #HMOs (HOUSES OF MULTIPLE OCCUPANTS) and the idea of any person buying a house in Britain without having “TRIPLE A* CREDIT” or can use the “BANK” of Mum & Dad as collateral or have “SAVINGS” that will provide a 25% downpayment on most houses costing upward of £250K (depending on where you live may be only a 2 bedroom house) and in the inner city of London & OTHERS* (QUARTER MILL* does not stretch very far) – maybe a “STUDIO Apartment – if that!!!

    How is this sustainable???

    Adding up all the “VARIABLES” – MORTGAGE, FOOD, CLOTHING, TRAVEL, INSURANCE & MISCELLANEOUS costs – pray tell, how are young people, single mothers, old FOLKS* & OTHERS to survive???

    I say all that to say: Britain is a “SUPER-WEALTHY” country – well imagine Barbados, with the said variables with all the “LOW-HANGING FRUIT” & the vagaries of not being to extend beyond the 166 sq miles parameters that box in the greater part of the population!!!

    Unless something changes “GLOBALLY” in these so-called “FIRST WORLD” countries – Barbados will feel the gyrations & tectonic upheavals of a world out of control!!!

  15. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    @DAVID

    Finally, a friend showed me what US$3000 bought at #COSTCO in 2023 as against what it bought in 2019…

    The reality of the “SPIKE” in the cost of living in the US (where I have lived for many years) shows that barring something cataclysmic happening or GOVs raising the stakes for the masses – everything we have held dear is going to hell in a pan cart!!!

    AmeriKKKa sneezed & now the world has COVID* & most have “PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS” which basically means – “WE ARE SCREWED”!!!

    Well, some of us…

    I am not the only one saying this…

    MONEY AS DEBT* IS THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES OVER THE HEADS OF THE MASSES…

    Here’s multi-billionaire Ray Dalio on the metrics & the scale of the crisis we face based on “DEBT” and the fact “BUYERS” are drying up who purchase these “FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS”…

    Goodnight Bruh, it’s #DuvetTime…

  16. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Canada

    https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-surging-cost-living-fuels-reverse-immigration-2023-12-09/

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Immigration to Canada by Country: Where are Canada’s Immigrants Coming From?
    India (118,095 immigrants)
    China (31,815 immigrants)
    Afghanistan (23,735 immigrants)
    Nigeria (22,085 immigrants)
    Philippines (22,070 immigrants)
    France (14,145 immigrants)
    Pakistan (11,585 immigrants)
    Iran (11,105 immigrants)

  18. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Most stunning was the Google list of most searched topics in Canada ’23…#2 was ICC World Cup Cricket #8 was Chandraayan-3. This coupled with unveiling of a 55ft high Hindu Hanuman Deity sculpture in Brampton matches the immigration stats.

  19. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    According to Klaus Schwab and his WEF minions, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

    WEF: ‘Catastrophic Cyber Event’ Will Trigger ‘Great Reset’ in 2024

    by Hunter Fielding

    The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced that humanity will be devasted by a “catastrophic cyber event” in 2024 that will pave the way for the “Great Reset” to be ushered in.

    According to the WEF, citizens will need to drastically alter their way of life to adapt to the “new world.”

    Freedom of movement, ownership of property, elections, meat consumption, physical money, and privacy will all need to be abandoned for “15-minute cities” and “cashless societies.”

    The year 2023 was no cakewalk, for sure, but it could very well be the last year in which we enjoyed a semblance of normalcy.

    SNIP

    Klaus Schwab himself, the top dog at the WEF, warned a couple of years ago about a coming major cyber attack that will make Covid look like “a small disturbance,” shutting down the power grid, which would upend the communications, transportation, banking, and healthcare sectors.

    We know that something catastrophic needs to happen in order for the globalists to be able to fully implement their plans for a “Great Reset” of the world order.

    It could be an EMP or nuclear war. But a series of major cyber attacks shutting down the banking and communications infrastructure seems like a more likely scenario because it would allow the globalists to shut down online truthtellers and use the chaos and confusion to round up their enemies.

    https://newsaddicts.com/wef-catastrophic-cyber-event-will-trigger-great-reset-2024/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

  20. David Avatar
    David

    Looks like another drought, says minister

    BARBADOS’ AGRICULTURE sector looks set to face another damaging period of drought in 2024, says Minister of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security Indar Weir.

    Weir said the country was already feeling the negative effects of this weather in the poultry industry, and on root crop farms, with data in his possession showing that production was especially hard hit.

    The St Philip South representative said that on the other hand, the good news for small farmers was that based on the Barbados Physical Development Plan (PDP) as amended in 2023 they would now be able to live on their farms.

    Weir was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday as debate on the resolution on the PDP resumed.

    The minister said regarding water scarcity that “we understand the challenges that our farmers are facing as we go through the droughts during the summer period and clearly what we went through last August through September”.

    Impacts

    “If the indicators are correct, 2024 [is] projected to be worse and we understand the heat that we went through during that period where it didn’t only impact on our poultry industry, but it certainly impacted on our root crops,” he told the Lower Chamber.

    “And root crops are deep in the soil so clearly if the soils are going to be carrying excess heat, then you can understand that the yields will not be what they used to be.

    “And in looking at the figures, or the numbers that have been sent to me so far, I have to be honest in saying that our yields are down with regard to crops like sweet potato and whilst they are up for cassava, we have to find a way to address what the heat is doing with sweet potato,” he added.

    Weir said this was why his ministry was starting “to give us an opportunity in a state of the art tissue culture lab that will allow for us to provide clean planting material, but equally to do enough testing to get us to be able to address what is required of us in an environment that is fluid, but at the same time one that we cannot easily predict what will happen”.

    Crop theft

    He said the PDP “has a set of integrated business options that may be available to people who are involved in agriculture”. This included enabling small farmers to live on their agriculture holdings, something the minister believed would help with the crop theft problem.

    “That to my mind represents true change because many farmers have been hit by praedial larcency and many times it takes place because they are not on the scene. So you will find that when they have left the farm to go home that is when praedial larcency can take place,” he said.

    “So, if you now have reached the point where you allow for sub division where that farmer can actually live on his farm we have addressed the issues where once upon a time only those on large plantations could live on the plantations.

    “And that to me is a tremendous achievement in a small island developing state where we are prepared to step outside the box to create opportunities for people who have said to you this is what we need to address the problem and we have responded,” he stated, adding that “this Physical Development Plan to my mind did more for agriculture, then what critics may seem to want to portray our project”. (SC)

    Source: Nation

  21. David Avatar
    David

    Straughn: Flyovers still needed

    GOVERNMENT STILL HAS an eye on the creation of flyovers to ease the traffic gridlock faced by motorists during daily commute to and from their place of business.

    This conclusion was made as Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Ryan Straughn debated the resolution Barbados Physical Development Plan as amended 2023 in the House of Assembly yesterday.

    The Member of Parliament for Christ Church East Central lamented the traffic gridlock between roundabouts situated near Gildan and Kooyman along the ABC Highway which contributed to workers and school children arriving late to their destinations and impeded access to Kingsland.

    In supporting the resolution, Straughn reflected on where Barbados is currently, its past and how Barbadians must see the Physical Development Plan in relation to going forward over the next generations.

    He said one should not divorce decisions taken previously about planning for the future and underscored how not following through on the building of a four-lane highway in the 1980s and [flyovers] now presents itself for traffic backlog along the highway which runs along Kingsland going north.

    “In thinking forward Sir as part of the Development Plan, we must think about what the country would look like in 40 years . . . Upon taking office in 2008, the last administration determined that there will be no flyovers . . . That decision 15 years ago now leads to a situation every morning and evening in every part of this country you have gridlock,” said Straughn, who added that any big decision made today must be followed through by the Barbados Labour Party Government.

    He said gridlock impacts how one gets to work, “and therefore they (the boss) have every right to discipline you for getting to work late, but it is not your fault that a political party made a decision that was injurious to you without understanding the impact that it is going to have on people down the road . . . .

    “You must understand Sir, if you make a decision . . . there has to be an alternative in place to help solve the problem. The problem is still there when you cancel the contract.”

    Straughn said it was going to cost more money to build any flyovers today than 15 years ago, “so you either come to a realisation that it has to be done and we are going to do it and it’s going to cost x and therefore all of us as a consequence of that . . . decision now would have to pay more or suck it up and get stuck in the traffic . . .”. (JS)


    Source: Nation

  22. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    @David

    A very good morning, Bruh…

    They say that “WICKED, EVIL BASTERDS” cannot sleep because they sit up all night “PLOTTING DESTRUCTION” and doing the bidding of their “OVERLORD”!!!

    Well, thank God for “SWEET SLEEP” & awesome dreams as opined by Joel 2:23; 28-29 – where young, old, & children will soon speak with the “RUACH” of “ONE VOICE”…

    Have you noticed the velocity at which 2023 has dissipated???

    Has time been cut short for the sake of “THE ELECT”??? (Matt 24:22)

    Science is not far behind “THE WORD” as we #ProveAllThings…

    Scientists have taken notice that Earth is speeding up… (Daniel 12:4)

    They say that the planet is moving so much faster now that they want to modify the length of a day by adding what they call – “LEAP SECONDS” – moreover, 2024 is meant to be a “LEAP YEAR”, as Feb will have 29 days!!!

    Each day is reckoned as a 24 hr cycle or 1,440 mins or 86,400 secs; time required for the Earth to spin once around on its axis, however, according to Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist with the National Physical Laboratory’s Time and Frequency Group, told “The UK Telegraph” that the earth is “SPINNING” in a way it hasn’t done in the last 50 years…

    IS THIS CAUSE FOR ALARM???

    Well, since the 1970s, a total of [27] “Leap Seconds” have been added to official time to address the slowing speed of Earth’s rotational movements. The last leap second was added on New Year’s Eve 2016. However, that suddenly changed during the #PlanDEMIC year 2020!!!

    On July 19, 2020, the actual day on Earth was 1.4602 milliseconds shorter than a full 24 hours, making it the shortest day ever recorded. Since then, the record short day has been broken a total of 28 times. In 2021, days were spinning faster, nearly 0.5 milliseconds shorter than a full 24 hours…

    Whibberley further added, “There are also international discussions taking place about the future of leap seconds, and it’s also possible that the need for a negative leap second might push the decision towards ending leap seconds for good…”

    Time variations may be insignificant on the surface to average humans, but very significant to human activity. Scientists believe that it would take another 100 years of this acceleration to be noticable – where you’d be able to “SEE” the Earth speeding up and time moving faster… (SOMETHING THAT IS ALREADY EVIDENT IF YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION)!!!

    The tech we depend on, however, cannot handle these changes & could prove extremely problematic. For example, communication & navigation systems based on modern satellite technology depend on time being consistent with the usual positions of the Sun, Moon, & stars. But if these systems are off by even milliseconds, they can suddenly fail, rendering the tools humans use useless!!!

    SEE MORE: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/04/earth-spinning-faster-now-time-past-half-century/

    The ecosystem’s modifications being made today – making the environment to fit the needs of an increasing predatory world (as in the built-UP environment) without greater reafforestation is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass species extinction & biodiversity loss, ecological crises, & eventual ecological collapse – all these “NEGATIVE FACTORS” precipitate what a groaning planet seeks deliverance from!!!

    Is it any wonder that we are hurtling towards and an “APOCALYPTIC END”???

    MAYBE THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM CAN EXPLAIN TO US HOW THEY PLAN TO MOVE TIME* INTO THEIR OWN FACILE IDEAS OF EQUILIBRIUM???

  23. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    My brotha* @ALPHA & OMEGA paints an ominous picture of what “SATANIST” & “LUCIFERIAN” Klaus Schwab purports to do under the aegis of his “CABAL” of disciples & devotees in”RE-ENGINEERING” the entire world into their own “IMAGE” & “LIKENESS”…

    Sorry, FOLKS – THIS IS A FAILED PROJECT FROM ITS INCEPTION HOWEVER YOU WANT TO LOOK AT IT!!!

  24. dreamstarworld Avatar
    dreamstarworld

    “EVERYTHING IS “DOMMED” 2 FAIL…” INCLUDE THE WEF IN THAT DAMNABLE HERESY!!!

  25. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    David, so, the politicians are trying to convince us that flyovers are urgently required at this time and justify construction thereof. Perhaps this is another ‘creative method’ to distribute ‘tax dollars’ to specific individuals.

  26. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    Well sadly, those who raise issues of national importance are considered trouble makers. When last have any of you seen string beans or corn planted?

    I have repeatedly highlighted to this GOB and the past the absence of a seed vault. Eff wunna think de items imported are healthier, see the recent food scandal to hit the UK.

    Listen, many vegetables are unavailable due to the unusual rainfall, and excessive heat that have had a negative impact on the growing cycle of many crops causing hormonal stress among many crop varieties.

    In the past I have also raised alarm that a day will come when Bajans will have money but nothing to buy. The aforementioned are the sort of things the National Security Council needs to be very concerned about.

    Farming and food security needs to be revolutionized as a matter of priority, the ways of the old are obsolete and grossly inefficient.

  27. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    @david et al, went deep sea fishing recently and after 4 hours of fishing between Hastings to Harbor we only caught 4 fish weighing about 15 pounds.

    Another boater who returned to shore the same time caught not 1 dolphin, only a 20 pound Barracuda after 5 hours of fishing.

    What was notable, was that other boaters were also complaining that it’s so bad even when you go as much as 15 miles offshore, that it’s concerning. However, we never had a fisheries management policy.

    De boaters now resorting to catching small baby Barracudas and the foreign trawlers raping of Caricom fishing reserves continues!

    Caricom, is in a very deep asleep!

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @TB

    What we know is that all of us believe in something, a characteristic that defines mankind.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    The type of system of government we practice means capital projects – big one – is the mechanism to channel money to those highly favoured. You are smart enough to know how this ends.

  30. David Avatar
    David

    @Kammie

    Isn’t it that time of the year when fish go underground for awhile?

  31. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    The remarkable thing about 99% of what are now considered new ideas and the way forward were offered or suggested and were rejected outright by the same people who have suddenly become so-called problem solvers.
    What keen observers are witnessing is that denial of certain realities , have been slowly turning to anger. But it’s being clouded because try as we may, we simply cannot bring ourselves to accept the sad state of affairs with which we are confronted here and elsewhere.
    We however observe that some have reached acceptance.
    We should first accept that the only truly progressive leader within the Caribbean was Fidel Castro !

  32. Fan Belt Avatar
    Fan Belt

    If Caribbean leaders are helpless, then it stands to reason that Caribbean people are hopeless.
    How else would you explain the ability of these helpless leaders to be re-elected, election after election?

    Why complain about a faulty product and then repeatedly buy said product at every opportunity presented?

  33. David Avatar
    David

    It is a somewhat valid point. We elect our leaders from among us. The political directorate/system has been able to fashion a culture which is dominant.

  34. Fan Belt Avatar
    Fan Belt

    The challenge for the people is preventing good men and women from becoming career politicians, once elected.

    Power of recall, you say?
    Well, which self-centered politician is going to propose that.?
    Which incompetent government would pass such legislation?

    We will be spinning top in mud, for years to come.

  35. Doba Avatar
    Doba

    Today, politics Is a profession and career. To imagine it otherwise is a grave error. Today’s politicians are well remunerated, attain generous pensions quickly and perks during and after active politics is common.

  36. The Government of Barbados gets its ideas from the Barbados Underground Avatar
    The Government of Barbados gets its ideas from the Barbados Underground

    The Government of Barbados gets its ideas from the Barbados Underground which is good bad and meh
    So the lack of penetration is due to the chatter of dull minds

  37. David Avatar
    David

    Steuspe

  38. Asking For A Friend Avatar
    Asking For A Friend

    Why you steuspe? Who else does be on BU more REGULAR than that @$$ and using nuff different names and foolish u-tube videos to talk nuff, nuff irrelevant $h¿t€ ?

  39. Posthuman Avatar
    Posthuman

    let’s be frank frank
    or be more or less like frank
    if you desire
    I get deep
    lyrics have a message
    it’s the black cnn
    on the Underground House Of God

  40. David Avatar
    David

    Some people don’t know how to make a point and allow others to do the same. We must try to beat each other with hardline rhetoric or opinions. We should focus on addressing issues and not anonymous commenters.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    PM: Inclusive economic growth is key

    PRIME MINISTER MIA AMOR MOTTLEY says she is concerned that Barbadians are not grasping the investment opportunities at home.

    She pointed out that despite billions in local capital available, most of the financing for local investment was coming from outside of the country.

    Speaking at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) luncheon yesterday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Mottley explained that while the country was experiencing economic growth, it was in need of inclusive economic growth.

    She noted that without the economic growth distributed fairly across society, Barbados could find itself facing many of the societal challenges currently impacting its neighbours.

    “I can talk to you about economic growth but what we need is inclusive growth. If we grow and do not carry those at the bottom, then the spectacle that has befallen many of our neighbours and which has started to befall us in terms of social implosion and prevalence of violence and guns, can become more of our reality”.

    Throwing out the challenge to business owners in the room, Mottley said: “We must turn up and we have to turn up equally for investment. The country has many initiatives before us, but in almost every instance the source of the funds and the nationality of the funds is looking less and less Barbadian and more and more foreign. This comes at a time when there is over $14 billion in savings in our accounts in our country. I must ask the question, what is the hope for our future?”

    The Prime Minister noted that such investments were a “win-win” all round as such opportunities paved the way for national development and provided more returns for the average person than what they would earn if their monies were left on the bank.

    “The missions provide the pathway for national development, but equally, people who can sponsor and benefit from national development, if it is to be inclusive growth, must be Bajans. This must be Barbadians who not only have a concentration of wealth, but the collective total of Barbadians using their savings,” Mottley said.

    She told those gathered that as Government continued to make headway on its mission pillars, more opportunities for investment would become available. This included protection of the environment, digitisation, reduction of non communicable diseases and the reform of state-owned enterprises.

    “There is a role for many of you and your businesses in the maritime environment and there is equally a role with respect to keeping the country clean. The legislation that the Attorney General will bring will see a shift in the burden as to who is responsible for keeping the country clean,” Mottley said.

    She added: “The Government has been doing the lion’s share and even as we speak, we have brought on another 300 people or so to be able to help us over the next month because we have not seen the concomitant uptake on the part of property owners in keeping their lots clean. At the end of the day, you are spending money, but very few of you in this room clean bush. The most that money may go is in the rental of equipment.” (CLM)


    Source: Nation

  42. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    There are no socio economic ills impacting our neighbours that are not impacting us.
    The entire region is facing identical problems . We ought to take a step back when talking about real economic growth.
    The only country that can come near to that boast is Guyana and that’s only in recent times.
    The traditional and the new emerging private sectors are not going to rescue any country because we simply cannot keep the same model and expect radically different results.
    There is a word for such thinking.

  43. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    The use by the PM of “inclusive” means local, any local. While I can commiserate with her frustration, there is obviously a divide between ‘opportunities’ as she sees them, and the private sector view. Moreso, when she watches the same local sector investing elsewhere. Here the Barbadians are “foreigners”.
    She may need to appreciate the psyche of this, esp the tax and profit considerations and their potential exit options.

  44. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/12/14/pm-eyes-major-restructuring-at-water-authority/

  45. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  46. David Avatar
    David

    Protect our rum from foreign claims

    Barbados is often called “the birthplace of rum”. While it is certain that distillates of sugar cane ferments had occurred before elsewhere, it was Barbados in the 1640s and 1650s which gave rum its modern name and identity.

    As early as 1651, a law in Puritan Connecticut banned “Barbados liquors commonly called Rum, Kill-Devil, or the like”. Few people realise how vast Barbados’ exports of rum were, perhaps 225 000 litres a year circa 1708, at a time when Scotland made less than 200 000 litres of whisky annually. Barbados rum was bigger than Scots whisky! The oldest surviving rum in the world, distilled in Barbados in 1780, sold at auction in 2013 for over US$10 000.

    Today, Barbados is universally recognised as a centre of excellence in rum production. Mount Gay is world-renowned, with a tradition which goes back to 1703.

    But, Foursquare, only 25 years old, has recently won Rum Producer Of The Year at the most prestigious international competition against all comers, in most of the last five years. Even more remarkable, in 2021 Foursquare was awarded the IWSC Spirit Producer Of The Year, defeating malt whisky, cognac, bourbon, vodka or gin. And this is not just a ‘succes d’estime’: each month on Rum Auctioneer, the most important secondary market index, Barbados rum is by far the most bought and sold, with Foursquare products consistently supplying lots more than from any other distillery in the world.

    One would have expected our patriotic politicians to follow the example of European governments which, for over a century, have protected their local food and drink traditions and brands, enforcing laws which declare that champagne must be made in the champagne region of France with local grapes, Scotch whisky must be made in Scotland by set rules, and so on. The Europeans, against American resistance, pushed these principles into the TRIPS agreements of the World Trade Organisation rules in the early 2000s.

    Around the world now, countries are protecting their local traditions and brand reputations with legal “geographical indicators” (GI). Jamaica, and more recently, Guyana have established GIs for their rum. It is a matter of astonishment that Barbados in 2021 has not.

    Maturation

    All four Barbadian distilleries were once united, with the Government, on the question. But in 2017, the Goddard Group sold the West Indies Rum Distillery (WIRD) to a French multinational, Maison Ferrand. Ferrand’s business model involves importing bulk rum from around the world and rebottling it in France under the Plantation brand. Alexandre Gabriel, its boss, finesses this colonial extractive model as “double maturation”, claiming to cellar the rum for a year in France to finish it.

    Given that rum matures three to four times as fast in the tropics than in France, this is trivial. What it does allow Plantation to do is to blend rums from many countries at its pleasure, and to build its brand value offshore. No one can know for sure what a bottled filled in France from bulk stock actually contains, one buys on trust only. Plantation also, against all Barbados rum tradition, often sweetens rum, a practice which it has notoriously called “dosage”.

    So, of course, under Gabriel’s ownership, WIRD came to oppose the strong GI proposal, supported by Mount Gay, Foursquare and St Nicholas Abbey, for anything sold as “Barbados rum” to be unsweetened, distilled, aged, blended, branded and bottled in the island.

    Political independence came relatively easily. Cultural decolonisation is a work in progress, but we have made enormous advances since 1966. But economic sovereignty is a more distant prospect.

    Tourism has thrived, but only on the basis of expensive imports, and with its profits increasingly off-shored beyond the fiscal frontier of the nation.

    Selling off land and property to foreigners, is a short-term fix. Attempts to lure foreign manufacturers here, whether textiles or microchips, has failed as soon as the tax holidays are over.

    While our “international business” services sector has provided livelihoods for some of our lawyers and accountants, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is in the process of squeezing it to death.

    Foursquare and Mount Gay, on the other hand, are showing us that we can create world-beating industries based on local expertise, with high-wage high-skill jobs, which have virtuous knockon effects on other areas of the economy. Rum will never produce mass employment, nor should it.

    The Scotch whisky industry only employs about 10 000 people, two-tenths of a per cent of Scotland’s population. But no one can deny it is a pillar of the economy, with particular importance in communities in which the distilleries are located. Much as in Scotland, where every few minutes in the highlands you pass a malt whisky brand, why should each parish not have its distinctive distillery? There are signs this is happening slowly, as a major new rum distillery is planned based on Scottish capital. But with a GI this would be significantly accelerated.

    In the season of the republic, it is time for Government to back its national economic champions over foreign multinationals, and to claim its oldest and most distinguished industry for the nation.

    Source: Nation

  47. John Avatar
    John

    How can expensive water = cheap food?

    In 1980, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) approved a loan to the Government of Barbados to assist in implementing the Spring Hall Land Lease Project in St Lucy, which would settle over 25 small farmers on plots that ranged in size from about 5 to 20 acres.
    One component of that project was to provide water to the farmers for irrigation. A condition of that CDB loan was that the cost of the water to the farmers was to be a discounted rate and not the rate charged by the Barbados Water Authority to government-sponsored farmers, which was $1.31 per cubic metre. CDB reasoned that the farmers could not afford to pay this “commercial” rate, otherwise, the cost of their produce would have to be increased to achieve an adequate and financially viable net income.
    The water rate charged by the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) included the costs for sourcing/pumping the water – about 20 per cent of the total; distributing the water – about 50 per cent; management – about 20 per cent; and a nominal subsidy for consumers/users of small quantities – about 10 per cent.
    Note also that the BWA provides potable, chlorinated water that the farmers do not need.
    It usually cost other Barbadian farmers, with their own irrigation water source, less than 30 cents per cubic metre at that time. Essentially those farmers only had one component of the BWA cost, i.e. the sourcing/pumping cost.
    The then government objected to that CDB condition and insisted that the farmers had to pay the full BWA rate.
    The result was that almost every farmer on the Spring Hall Land Lease Project in the 1980s was unable to pay their irrigation costs and was essentially bankrupted. The BWA subsequently withdrew its irrigation service and the government was subsequently forced to seek a less costly alternative irrigation source for the Spring Hall Land Lease farmers, which has always been inadequate since then.
    Fast forward to 2020-2023: the government was faced with a similar problem involving its Farmers’ Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) programme that resulted from the settlement of farmers on lands with no irrigation source.
    They provided this water at the current BWA rate for such farmers of $2.49 per cubic metre. In an attempt to bring equity to these farmers, the government decided, from May 2023, to increase the irrigation water rates of all other farmers, being supplied under the BADMC programme from $0.60 per cubic metre to $1.80 per cubic metre — a 200 per cent increase, while reducing the BWA irrigation water to the same $1.80 per cubic metre.
    This decision essentially required the “other” farmers (not under the FEED programme) to subsidise the BWA rate to the FEED farmers. In enforcing such an exorbitant rate, the current administration completely ignored the farmer’s petition, which reasonably argued why not to implement such a 200 per cent increase while suggesting a viable alternative methodology.
    A copy of that petition is available for anyone genuinely interested in understanding the farmer’s viewpoint.
    What the Barbadian public now needs to know is: how much has this tripling of the irrigation water costs to farmers contributed to the increase in cost of local produce, which poor Barbadian consumers must now pay while failing to understand why; how many of these Barbadian farmers have been unable to pay their water bills and had their metres locked; how many of them have been forced to reduce their irrigation usage with reduced yields to maintain their operational viability; and how much has this contributed to the reduced production of food crops that Barbados is currently experiencing?
    PETER WEBSTER

  48. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/12/15/social-media-saga-strains-barbados-hospitality-industry-bhta/

  49. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    good news for some.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/12/15/winter-eve-agreement-to-get-legislative-backing-in-new-year/

  50. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    The joke about the rum article and GI, is in Jan I took a few ferners to Foursquare. The plant itself was closed for maintenance, but in two separate areas were several large plastic vats (+/-275gal variety) labelled for shipment to 2 separate USA customers.
    Unless they are using foreign bottlers, this is bulk rum (albeit aged as indicated on the shipping labels).
    This is what Ferrand did/does. Buy bulk rum from a variety of sources, do whatever, and label it accordingly.
    Inability to sell branded rum is what enticed WIRD to sell.
    It’s a tough game, especially when Bacardi, (formerly the globe’s largest selling brand) convinced the world rum is a clear liquid, aka white rum.
    And today massive marketing machines like Diageo, Bacardi too, have brands in multiple categories they use to lock up distribution.
    Marketing the GI label is a multi million dollar project.

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