Some ‘insane’ Barbadians are asking the question again – is the standard of living we have become accustomed tosustainable. Is it sensible for us `a net importer and purchaser of foreign currency to promote and implement policies that guarantee we must BORROW billions in foreign and local dollars to fund the short fall not covered from taxes collected in the
Read more
Submitted by Bentley I’m sure you must have seen this article from GIS (see below). While I totally agree with the need to address food security by regional leaders much more is needed to be done if we are to ever come close to satisfying the food requirements of the region from regional sources. With specific reference to Barbados there
Read more
Portvale sugar factory continues to be closed at this most critical time of our crop season. Shockingly, the factory is still undergoing repairs after a two-week shutdown. Normally repairs happen during the planting and growing seasons, to avoid any shut-downs for repairs during the crop reaping time. Evidently, something has gone terribly wrong. When CBC-TV finally broke the story that
Read more
Back to the Budget of a few weeks ago. Many may have missed it, many would have wondered why they were included in a Budget Speech and many are still wondering what is the real story behind black belly sheep making up a budget speech delivery when truth be told they had nothing to do with government revenue or expenditure.
Read more
Russia’s war in Ukraine will disrupt commerce and clog up supply chains, slashing economic growth and pushing prices sharply higher around the globe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned Thursday….the 38-country OECD said that over the next year, the conflict would reduce gross domestic product (GDP) — the broadest measure of economic output — by 1.08 percent
Read more
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
Read more
There is the popular expression credited to Sir Winston Churchill ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’. It is believed Churchill’s reference had to do with an alliance formed after World War II between himself (UK), Stalin (Soviet Union) and Roosevelt (USA) which resulted in the formation of the United Nations. It is possible that out of chaos can
Read more
If Russia goes to war with Ukraine, the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have promised to inflict punishing sanctions on Russia. NATO is a military alliance of 26 European continent countries, plus the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. Essentially, it is an agreement to defend any member that is attacked. Since Ukraine is not a member
Read more
It is often bandied about the ministry of agriculture (MOA) has more employees with PhDs than most places. However, if you try to plot a correlation between national agriculture output and number of post grad certifications in the MOA, there is a negligible positive. The late prime minister Owen Arthur warned Barbadians of storm clouds on the horizon and that
Read more
There is a popular saying “God helps those who help themselves“. The pandemic has been with us almost 2 years, we know any pandemic is likely to disrupt the global supply chain. We know Barbados is a significant importer of food, over the years successive governments have paid lip service to prioritizing food security. It is cheaper to import than
Read more
Projects similar to this (see article attached) could be implemented on some of the acres of waste government lands scattered all over the country. If government is really serious about food security it would allow people (properly organised) to utilize non productive land for the purpose of growing food. Bentley – BU Contributor The pandemic provides the opportunity for households
Read more
The blogmaster followed with interest the passing of Bills yesterday in the Lower House of the National Payment System Bill 2021 and the Barbados Identity Management Bill 2021. The government appears to be moving to take advantage of technology to enhance and transform how Barbadians do business in a new ecosystem, pay for goods, services. Gone are the days when
Read more
Selfish, unpatriotic, heartless, self serving are but a few choice adjectives that could be attributed to companies within Barbados who would import pumpkin amidst a glut in Barbados. Some of these said companies are the same ones who often suck on the nipples of taxpayers via government for economic relief and concessions. Where is your sense of corporate social responsibility?
Read more
The Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Cleviston Haynes will deliver the quarterly review of Barbados’ economy, next Wednesday, October 28 at 11:00 AM. In recent years Barbadians have become numb to the performance of the economy as we battle with a high debt to GDP, high unemployment, low national productivity to name three key performance indicators. The pandemic
Read more
Submitted by Heather Cole Heather Cole is asking for the public’s support to ensure the success of a food security project at the Todds Plantation. Dear Prospective Investors and Members, Although the conception of the People’s Agricultural and Business Co-op was done prior to COVID-19, we did not anticipate that our fears would have been realized months
Read more
Submitted by the Mahogany Coconut Group The fears of many progressives that Caribbean leaders will not embrace a new economic path post COVID -19, are slowly surfacing. While we support the current efforts in the fight against COVID-19, we must admit that as the region returns to state of normalcy or what is being branded the “new norm”, there
Read more
Submitted by Mahogany Coconut Group Many regional commentators are of the firm opinion, that the post COVID-19 economies, will have to consider putting the Agriculture industry, at the forefront of economic planning. While we certainly do not want to engage in pessimism, we suspect that some who share this view, may be quite optimistic and are avoiding historical truths. The
Read more
The following blog reflects concern about food security in a Trinidad and Tobago context, however, the message rings true for the majority of countries in the region including Barbados. It raises the perennial concern that Caricom has not been able to implement solutions to address concerns about the need for food security for its member. Thanks to Tee White sharing
Read more
Barbados Underground 