Forty-plus years cotton-picking veteran, ‘MP’ Phillips, said he was testing the water at Wakefield Plantation since it should take another week for the bolls to fully open.
Cotton harvest restarts
With yesterday March 1st signaling the lifting of several restrictions under the previous COVID-19 directive, the harvesting of cotton in Barbados restarted in earnest. After having persons applying to pick cotton at several fields across the island, the initiative was temporarily shelved due to the national pause implemented for the month of February.
Speaking to The Barbados Advocate yesterday, Agronomist with the Barbados Agricultural Management Company Nyah Nyhathu explained that the inactivity under the break would have hindered some of the initial progress. Although numbers were small yesterday, Nyhathu said that he was confident that more people would be coming out as the days went by.
“We had some respondents but the logistics of getting people to the fields right now, we are still working out. We had a few people coming out – just a trickle – but I believe by the end of the week, we should see a substantial amount of people coming on.”
Stating that the feedback from the public had been favourable thus far, Nyhathu said that many were calling for information with the fields at Searles in Newton, Christ Church, Mount Pleasant in Parish Land, St. Philip and Redland Farm at Wakefield, St. John garnering the most interest. With about 50 people beginning the harvest yesterday across the three fields, Nyhathu said that the ideal number to efficiently complete the harvest in good time would be 250 people.
“At this stage, with what we have out there with this kind of harvest, we would like to see at least 250 at a minimum right now in those fields. The thing about the cotton harvest is that as the wind prevails, it is Easter season and the wind usually gets a bit higher at this time, it is in our best interest right now to have the cotton picked as early as possible. So the response I would like to see initially is that 250 people, at least in the month of March and the first part of April,” he said.
Noting that there were over 200 people on paper who were expressing interest in harvesting cotton,Nyhathu stated that the pandemic provided the greatest hurdle.
“There has been a general interest but it is just for people to get out now. After the lockdown, people are unsure of how to come out, what times are best and those kinds of things. And everybody is concerned about COVID-19 and the protocols,” he said. (MP)