Modern outlook required

Government needs to be “a lot more ambitious” as it relates to how the local agricultural sector is being reinvented and embrace more modern agricultural techniques.

That’s the view of Senator Crystal Drakes, lead spokesperson on finance and the economy for the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP). During
a recent press conference, while referring to the additional 700-plus acres of land to be put into agricultural production to aid in boosting food security under the Farmers’ Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) programme, she lamented that she has not heard much about “smart farming” in this venture. This, she maintained, is a cause for concern.

“For instance, are we building greenhouses, are we building plants in relation to hydro and aquaponics and even vertical farms? I think if we spend money in those areas and
provide jobs in those areas, it would put us in a better position as it relates to food security, climate proofing the agricultural sector and we would be also then saving money, because a dollar saved is also a dollar earned,” she added.

The senator, as she reflected on the island’s water woes especially in recent times, explained that developing hydro and aquaponics farms would allow for a closed loop system of water, which is recirculated, to provide much needed irrigation for plants. She said such are extremely water-efficient systems.

“Somehow those types of initiatives are not coming out in the plan when I hear about the FEED programme and that is what concerns me, because if you go into traditional farmers and you rely on that, because of the changing climatic conditions, what you will have is reduced production and we’ve been seeing that. Outside is extremely dry and the drier it is, the more water your crops will need. And if that is the direction the government is going in, it will not be very fruitful or productive,” she warned.

Drakes, who is an economist, said it is imperative then to divert any expenditure or investment being put into the FEED programme, into modern technology as it relates to agricultural production.

Adding to her comments, Leader of the Opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley said that it is equally important that there is a structured marketing agency that gets farming products as far and wide in the market as possible.

“What has befallen the existing entity or the entity that used to exist is a serious question in relation to its function. We are saying that the onus is on marketing farm produce in Barbados, especially from smaller farmers, it should not be left to farmer himself or herself. But that an entity needs to be established and robustly functioning so that those produce coming from the farm lands in Barbados are strategically marketed to the benefit of the farmers and the economy as a whole,” he added.

Bishop Atherley referring to the hundreds of acres proposed to be used for the FEED programme, lamented that it is being pursued at a time when a large section of the local market for that food traditionally – the tourism sector – is virtually non-existent right now.

“Those hundreds of thousands of people who would impart consume what is produced in Barbados to some extent, are not there anymore. So there is a question as to what happens with that production, with that measure of produce that would normally have gone to the tourism sector and it is a question of marketing,” he argued.