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As Christmas rapidly approaches there are rumblings about chicken, vegetables and other ‘produce’ being scarce for different reasons. There is mention of inefficient inventory management, supply disruption and the one Minister of Agriculture Weir likes to reference, adverse agriculture conditions as the main reasons.

It is fair to conclude it doesn’t matter which government is in office, Barbados continues to fail at moving the output needle as far as agriculture production is concerned.

There is truth in Weir’s assertion that changing climatic conditions continue to challenge local farmers. This is true for global farmers. The question is what counter measures need to be implemented locally to meet the goal of increasing agriculture production. There is a popular saying that one must adapt to the requirements of the environment because survival belongs to those who can evolve. A priority of all managers in these challenging times is building resilience into the business model. A word to the wise should be suffecient.

The following is recommended viewing for Minister Weir and his bevy of highly credentialed public officers at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Credit: Bentley

Footnote: Minister Indar Weir recently won a court award for over $100,000 in damages against traditional media. Congratulations to him, our court system works!

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32 responses to “Bare shelves!”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Ready to do more for green economies, says IMF

    THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) is ready to do more to help Barbados and other Caribbean countries transition to green economies.

    IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva gave this commitment yesterday as she reflected on the coastal damage she saw Barbados suffered from Hurricane Beryl and the threat climate change posed to tourism, the island’s main breadwinner.

    She was speaking at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre

    during the Caribbean High-Level Forum On Managing The Energy Transition, held jointly by the Government and the IMF.

    “We are very deeply committed to helping our members navigate a very complicated, highly unpredictable, global environment, and the only way we can do our job is working with you, being with you, learning from you,” she said.

    “And I pledge that you would see as an outcome of this meeting we would do things better, [and] differently so, we can serve our members as they deserve to be served.”

    Georgieva said that “unless we figure out the pathway to decarbonise our economies for the countries all over the world, but especially for small island states, the future would be bleak”.

    Her view is that “there is no place where the need for energy transition is more obvious than the Caribbean”, largely in the context of climate change and the need for Barbados and its neighbours to reduce their reliance on harmful fossil fuels.

    Coastal protection

    “Yesterday, Prime Minister Mottley graciously took us to see the impact of [Hurricane] Beryl on the coastal area of Barbados. It was a very sober trip,” she shared.

    “Yes, beautiful to be in the Caribbean waters, but so sad to see how much damage has been done and how the very existence of the main economic source for Barbados, tourism, could be threatened unless there is strong protection of coastal areas.

    “When the beaches are gone, the tourists are gone. It’s as simple as that. And to see how beaches have shrunk over the last decades because of the force of climate stress was very, very sobering,” the IMF boss added.

    Georgieva said the IMF could “do a lot to help countries put in place the policy and regulatory environment that would make investments more likely to happen and that can accelerate this transition”.

    “I very much believe that working on the regulatory side, on the policy side, is hugely important, and as an institution, we have a massively significant role to play to help you accelerate the energy transition,” she told participants.

    “I’m optimistic because I look around the table and I see institutions and individuals that have done enormously significant work, and it is paying off.”

    (SC)

    Source: Nation

  2. John Avatar
    John

    Hopefully we will get our piece of pork this Christmas.

  3. The OG Avatar
    The OG

    Read the statement from the IMF carefully and you will see that no real solutions are offered.
    There is no magic pill that we can take to save our beaches …. We can stumble around, privatize and sell off huge chunks of beach access, but
    “When the beaches are gone, the tourists are gone. It’s as simple as that. And to see how beaches have shrunk over the last decades because of the force of climate stress was very, very sobering,” the IMF boss added.

    Can you tell me how energy transition will save our beaches? Can you tell how the regulatory or policy side will save our beaches? Empty and meaningless phrases that add up to nothing

    “I very much believe that working on the regulatory side, on the policy side, is hugely important, and as an institution, we have a massively significant role to play to help you accelerate the energy transition,” she told participants.

  4. John2 Avatar
    John2

    Georgieva said that “unless we figure out the pathway to decarbonise our economies for the countries all over the world, but especially for small island states, the future would be bleak”.

    Her view is that “there is no place where the need for energy transition is more obvious than the Caribbean”, largely in the context of climate change and the need for Barbados and its neighbours to reduce their reliance on harmful fossil fuels.

  5. BAJAN IN EXILE Avatar
    BAJAN IN EXILE

    All of this “Climate Change” is a hoax to make all of us into the Elite’s slaves.

    Hurricane’s these days are “Geoengineered”. Anyone remember the HAARP “gun” way back in the 60’s that PM Barrow in agreement with the US government at the time installed behind the small airplane flying club on the cliffs?

    Has anyone ever seen a hurricane in the first days of June in the Caribbean? It is the Elites who are steering these hurricanes and intensifying their magnitude – look at the situation in North Carolina – WHO has ever seen a hurricane burrow deep into the interior of the USA – in a mountainous region and cause floods? Killing and dislocating thousands of people in order for the establishment to get at lithium mines in a town called Asheville. FOLLOW THE MONEY.

    We must start to think critically and stop allowing these wicked people to brainwash us with their propaganda.

    First step: Turn off all mainstream media, that includes newspapers, radio and TV.

    Search out Truther – alternative media platforms where you will be amazed at what you learn. Come out of the Matrix you will be set free.

    They have no interest in Caribbean peoples you all had better wake up. Look at Haiti that is a template for you.

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The Canadians.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2024/12/04/cows-arrive-to-help-boost-local-milk-production/

  7. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Petty farming update:
    Plenty of cassava, some frozen for pone, some dried for later, some fresh for eating today or tomorrow.
    A good quantity of sweet potatoes, although they are a bit small this year
    Plenty of frozen okras.
    Some frozen pumpkin left, and some made into MORE conkies [the conkie note is for Bush Tea] this past weekend. Delicious!!!
    A good number of pears left still, should take me through to the new year.
    21 yard fowl eggs waiting to be made into Christmas cake. Given to me by a neighbor who doesn’t eat them, but I do.

  8. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Breakfast:
    1 banana
    1 pear
    1 slice of whole wheat bread
    1 cup of coffee with milk and 1/4 tsp of sugar
    Looking for a way to work it off. May do some yard work or heavy housekeeping, or chase behind the toddler.

  9. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Bajan in Exile,

    I hope that you will remain in exile. Or, at least, don’t bring that bullshit home wirh you.

  10. The OG Avatar
    The OG

    Does anyone have an issue with having to first get news of events in Barbados from a foreign press? In this case, protect the tourism product may be a valid reason, but what about the procurement of vaccine fiasco? Who/what was being protected then?

    For completeness, I have an issue with it. Don’t keep in state of ignorance to protect anyone. In effect, you are lying to me.

  11. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The Canadians have arrived.

  12. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @The OG December 5, 2024 at 10:20 am “Does anyone have an issue with having to first get news of events in Barbados from a foreign press?”

    Yes I do.

    Like this:

    The Sun has reported how ­Rebekah was found dead in a blood-drenched hotel room in Barbados a fortnight before Arter’s suspected ­suicide in prison in July this year.
    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/sick-truth-behind-2016-wedding-photo/news-story/1e531f72fcc9db4eaab03b449ca5a8ff

  13. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    may be 2

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2024/12/05/police-find-human-remains-at-henley-st-john/

  14. John Avatar
    John

    a “sensitive matter of a historical nature”

    What does this mean?

  15. John Avatar
    John

  16. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @John December 5, 2024 at 9:29 pm “sensitive matter of a historical nature”
    What does this mean?”

    I was wondering the same thing. I was kinda hoping that the bones were of some of Barbados’ indigenous people and that the individual(s) had died naturally thousands of years ago. But today’s Weekend Nation is reporting on page 5 that “police believe they may have finally solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of two men, a bullet riddled car, a bloody house and a finger on a table. That was the scene along Farm Road, St Philip, on July 26, 2023, which left detectives scratching their heads for answers, as the major clue they had was that the occupants of the vehicle, Junior “Pippy Yard” Taitt, 49, and Randy “Sharkman” Brathwaite, 47, both of Blades Hill, St Philip, were missing, leaving a bloody trail behind. Police now believe they can piece together the gruesome details of that bloody afternoon after finding
    skeletal remains in a shallow grave at Henley, St John, yesterday, believed
    to be those of the men.”

  17. John Avatar
    John

    Family of murdered Brit calls for justice
    Detailing that the “horrific and brutal” killing of their loved one still haunts them to this day, the relatives of British national Stephen Weare asked the court to ensure that those responsible received the maximum sentence possible.
    Three of the slain businessman’s relatives gave their victim impact statements on Wednesday via Zoom as 37-year-old Keino Nakito Griffith sat in the dock of the No. 2 Supreme Court after previously confessing to unlawfully killing Weare between August 23 and September 1, 2017.
    The resident of Pounders Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael, was charged along with five others for Weare’s murder but had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
    Weare, the owner of a car dealership, went missing on 23 August 2017. His body was found eight days later in a remote area in Hillside Garden, The Mount, St George.
    Saying her life had changed drastically in the wake of her partner’s death, Noeline Wilkinshaw told the court she now suffers from nightmares and constantly looks over her shoulder in fear when outside.
    “How could you value a life so cheaply? You disposed of him as if he was rubbish,” she asked, before saying that no punishment Griffith received would ever make up for the pain of losing him in such a way.
    Daughter Lauren and son Harry described their father as their best friend, noting that the incident had taken a severe emotional and physical toll on them and lamenting that he would never get to help them navigate their way through life. They asked the court for justice for their dad.
    Earlier in the proceedings, the convicted man told the court: “I would like to say sorry to Mr Weare family for what I took part in. As you can see, it was never intended. I am so sorry for your loss because I also had a loss through this experience also. I would like to say sorry to the court because this whole thing is an accident, a mistake. It put me through a lot and also it would have had to put the family through a lot also, and I leave it at the court to use my facts and what I say today and I know Mr Worrell would be fair. I apologise again for what took place. It was never my intention. I apologise.”
    Senior State Counsel Romario Straker revealed that when police initially questioned Griffith in connection with the missing British car dealer, he responded: “I ain’t kill that man, but come and let me take you to where I dump the body.”
    Griffith then directed the officers to a grassy area with trees in Hillside Garden and pointed to a grey tarpaulin saying: “That is the white man body in there.”
    A strong, pungent odour was coming from the area.
    In his statement to police, Griffith said that on the day in question, a man told him that there was an individual who had a job that they would get $80 000 for if it “come off”.
    Later in the day, Griffith met with the man and three others, and they went to a house to talk about the job and how they would get the money.
    One of the men left while he and the others hid. The other man returned with Weare, and when he sat down, “everybody come out from hiding and restrain the gentleman”. One of the men left to go to Weare’s place to look for papers while the others waited to hear from him.
    “I should think that everybody was nervous looking at their reaction. Then one de boys put a plastic bag over de man’s head saying ‘You gotta do it clean’. The man begin to like fight for air then he began slow down, then he stop suddenly,” the statement read.
    Griffith said that one of the others contacted the man who had left to search Weare’s house saying: “The man ain’t make it.” That man informed them that they would not be able to get all the money at once, as the only way was for the money to be transferred to an account.
    The convicted man stated that they decided to transfer it to his credit union account as he alone had one.
    They left Weare’s body in the house and went to Black Rock to transfer the funds. Eventually, they all went back to the house, placed the body in a tarpaulin, and loaded it in the back of a van.
    Griffith said he and two others drove to St George and dumped the body.
    Attorney Safiya Moore represents Griffith.
    The case is set to continue on Friday.

  18. Willing Hangman Avatar
    Willing Hangman

    Them want hanging and eye for and eye.

  19. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    “Griffith said that on the day in question, a man told him that there was an individual who had a job that they would get $80 000 for if it “come off”.

    And he did not question why he would be “paid” $80,000 for a day’s work, or even $16,000 which is 1/5 of $80,000. I’ve worked long and hard and I’ve never been paid $16,000 even for an excellent day’s work.

    The lure of nuff, nuff “easy” money.

  20. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Full shelves.

    https://www.cbc.bb/news/local-news/chicken-production-boosted/

  21. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I would think that the investigation of a recent murder at that same house in Farm Rd led to this discovery.

  22. John Avatar
    John

    Mrs. Smith?

  23. David Avatar
    David

    https://youtu.be/KhjzFtKFjfk

  24. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    On November 13th Starcom reported

    St. Philip shooting victim dies

    Barbados has recorded another homicide with the death this morning of a man who was shot last Thursday at Farm Road, St. Philip. The deceased is 56-year-old Lyndon Brathwaite of Ealing Park, Christ Church, a former employee of the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, CBC. He had been hospitalized in a comatose state after being shot in the left side of his head and passed away today. Another man was shot in his left arm during that incident and was transported to hospital in stable condition.

  25. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Yes, that’s the one, Cuhdear. Same house. Lyndon had bought it.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    ‘Too early’ for market meat rush

    It is still a bit too early for Barbadians to start shopping for Christmas meat.

    That’s according to some butchers in the meat section of the Cheapside Market in Bridgetown, who said the rush should happen next week as people were still doing their usual shopping.

    “Things are a bit slow right now but it may pick up the last two weeks before Christmas. Right now, the most we selling is chicken foot,” said Oscar Hinkson yesterday afternoon..

    The farmer and butcher raises pigs, cows, sheep and chickens but said he had to forgo selling chicken.

    “The heat offset my chickens so I had to shut that off because they not growing. I also have to keep my sheep indoors because the dogs eating them out,” he said.

    One of the features of this year’s budget was a livestock emissions rebate of 45 per cent on the purchase price of hay. Hinkson said he was not aware of this, adding hay was too expensive.

    “I graze my cows outdoors and only use hay if there’s a shortage of grass. Hay can run from $12 to $120, nobody should have to pay that much for grass,” he said.

    Kadeem Layne of D L Prestige Farms and Meats Limited also said he was not aware of the rebate, but hay was an additional cost to his family’s operation.

    “We try to eliminate using hay and use [fresh] grass. I’m glad to hear about the rebate but the process of applying for things like that can be a burden,” he said.

    Layne said his family raised pigs, goats, chickens, rabbits and sheep and the operation was going fairly smoothly, save a few issues with getting chicks. He said, should they ever fall short on a commodity, they simply did not place it on their shelves.

    More price-conscious As for prices, he said they kept them constant as consumers were more price-conscious than ever.

    “Our prices remain the same. Consumers don’t want to see increased prices. Even at our normal prices, a lot of consumers still have challenges – people are really price-conscious right now,” he said.

    The young businessman said people were not buying as many spare ribs, but opting more for pork legs and shoulder and leg roasts, the cuts more commonly used for baked pork at Christmas.

    Butcher Rashid Brooks said pepperpot fare was in demand, saying he was selling tripe, cow faces, skin and heels.

    He said it was early to gauge properly but said more people were coming in to buy meat, though not at the level expected for the season, at least not yet.

    “By next week it will pick up so I want to make sure I have enough meat to service the people. I have to make sure to get what people want,” he said.

    Other butchers and farmers suggested that next week they would have a better idea of how sales were going for the season. (CA)

    Source: Nation

  27. David Avatar
    David

    I have been chastised

    EXCORIATED. I unfortunately said that the Government was going around in circles when it borrowed $600 million of our savings from the local banks, ostensibly to reduce obligations on outstanding loans interest payments.

    However, it has to be a US dollars borrowing since international agencies would not have Barbados dollars in order to fulfill their commitment of guarantee. Many of our thinkers may be congratulating the government for its apparent savings, but there is a wider picture. What will be interesting is the real use of the apparent savings. (Perhaps the Opposition in parliament needs to be vigilant.)

    So the banks are not forced to make profit now by lending to the public, (is this not part of the unwritten contract?); something that traditionally banks in a country are supposed to do. If a small man wants to borrow he has a hard time getting a loan because the banks are happy with the status quo and now Government. Until the banks are forced to find profit by lending the savings that they get from the people of Barbados, the Barbadian public will continue to be at the mercy of high commissions and perhaps a dependency on Government to provide houses and assistance. Without savings, banks cannot exist as savings are the bedrock of banks.

    It may be that the Government will register a savings in payment of interest, but the resulting fact, in addition to heavy commission paid by the public, is a problem with getting mortgages even if the banks may say that the mortgages will come at a higher interest rate. I reiterate that we are caught in a web of riddles going back to pre-2018, that sees no solution unless the bigger countries will forgive the debt that has allowed us to survive and which a future generation may be obliged to face with possibly harsh consequences; a very hard place with the Government trying to reduce its debt obligation and placing the burden of survival on the common folk. I recall vividly Sir Courtney Blackman telling the commercial banks: “Gentlemen the interest rate is five per cent.” He did not consult the government.

    Right now the ordinary person is paying commissions to the commercial banks, taxes on almost everything we purchase (as we are not locally producing) and the things that we cannot produce. This is why I say that we are going around in circles as the government may save some interest, but the pressure is being felt by the Barbadian person. There is vague commitment on the use of the savings in interest payments.

    We wonder what is the plan of the foreign (some call themselves indigenous) banks, but that may be a misnomer. When we look at the progress of the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica, that bank operates with policies in the interest of Jamaicans as it sets the standard for banking for the average Jamaican.

    Since 2018 our government has been in a conundrum, having chosen borrowing to free itself of a situation that was difficult to face, a debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product). It was a face-saving confrontation into which Barbadians were looking at their pride and reputation. Barbados chose to borrow. Government now has to deal with that cost in a world market where reducing the ratio to 60 per cent may be pie in the sky and an open question to young working people on the ability to survive.

    Our intellectual gurus may find the action of the Government a remarkable act of savings, but I ask, for whom? We are still refusing to accept the situation that “bird can’t fly on one wing”, expecting tourism to be our be all and end all and borrowing our way out. Even this move to deal with the borrowing aspect of our country does not place the burden of pulling us up by our bootstraps on the citizens themselves. Look how many acres of land lie fallow while we import yams and potatoes and export less sugar.

    Just perhaps our younger people are seeing the mammoth task ahead and are showing their resentment to the emerging task.

    For me, I believe that Government missed a trick when instead of heavily borrowing our people were forced to dig themselves out of the political morass festered by the previous Government by working – out of the frying pan into the fire.

    Harry Russell is a banker. Email quijote70@gmail.com

    source: Nation

  28. David Avatar
    David

    Govt signs agreement with World Food Programme

    GOVERNMENT HAS SIGNED a letter of understanding with the United Nations World Food Programme, aimed at improving the region’s food security and nutrition by 2030.

    Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds signed the letter of understanding on behalf of the Government, while Caribbean Country Director Brian Bogart signed on behalf of the Food Programme.

    In February 2022, the Food Programme approved the Caribbean Multi-Country Strategic Plan for 2022-2026.

    This US$69.5 million financial envelope is targeted at improving the region’s food security and nutrition by 2030. It correlates directly to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 2 – Zero Hunger, reinforces SDG 17 on partnerships, and will positively impact SDGs one, five, 10, and 13.

    Following the signing on Monday at the ministry’s Culloden Road, St Michael location, Symmonds noted that the assistance provided would help Barbados, and by extension the Caribbean region, in its efforts towards CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 initiative, which seeks to reduce the region’s rising food import bill, improve intraregional trade, and create wealth and economic opportunities for the members of the Caribbean Community.

    “We can do a lot in terms of making sure we have appropriate balance and payments if we can substitute and move away from the reliance on imports that allows us to build out a stronger regional capacity, which is really the effort being driven under the 25 by 2025 initiative . . . . I think it is the most wonderful and generous contribution to our effort that we can now get US$69.5 million towards this region’s effort in that direction.

    “So again, partnership with the World Food Programme, in terms of security and sustainability, is really fundamental to our developmental effort. So, I just wanted to say thank you,” Symmonds said. (BGIS)

    Source: Nation

  29. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    What does ” we can now get US$69.5 million” mean exactly?

  30. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Donna, good question…It correlates directly to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 2 – Zero Hunger, reinforces SDG 17 on partnerships, and will positively impact SDGs one, five, 10, and 13…if you can translate that. The language of international bureaucracy.
    The WFP is another UN bureaucratic boondoggle.

  31. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The future is looking good.

  32. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Hants
    What future looking good what?!!
    Just more politicians talking shiite…

    How long have we has a Faculty of Law? …has it helped our Judiciary?
    Just a lotta shiite talk and more spending of easy money from GREEKS bearing gifts
    – for jokers who are unfamiliar with the story of the Trojan Horse.

    If we cannot get sugar cane, cotton to be viable
    If your MAIN objective for agricultural lands is to grow ‘house lots’
    If your lands are largely OWNED by albino-centric demons
    If these owners ONLY care about quick $$$

    How will yet another shiite eddykashunal facility help?
    …except to employ a few more teachers ??

    Steupsss
    OBVIOUSLY we need to FIRST create the environment for agriculture to flourish… AND THEN deal with the training needs that ARISE from that initiative.

    What a set of jokers…
    What a place!

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