Youth encouraged to make better use of greenhouse technology

Young agri-preneurs are being encouraged to make better use of greenhouse technology, to produce both traditional and non-traditional crops, for the benefit of the country.

The encouragement came recently from Vere Parris, President of the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPPSS), ahead of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Cleviston Hunte, Director of Youth in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, to facilitate the expansion of the Ministry’s Garden Project, from primary to secondary schools.

 

“Imagine a Barbados dotted with greenhouses or shade houses, whatever you prefer to call them, producing tonnes of food weekly. That is not a pie in the sky. That kind of agriculture is more likely to attract the younger generation, that the traditional open field agriculture” Parris told a number of youth who will be involved in the Garden Project.

Pointing out that a large variety of crops can be grown using greenhouse technology, the President of BAPPSS revealed that he was fortunate to visit Israel a few years ago and it was there that he saw firsthand even citrus crops and some bananas growing under greenhouses, with drip irrigation.

 

Stressing that much of Israel is just desert, he queried, “If a desert country can produce as much food as Israel does, to the extent that it exports, why can’t fertile Barbados?

Research shows, he said, that for a dry country, Israel produces almost 75% of its food and export exports a significant amount of food daily, inclusive of hundreds of thousands of fruits and vegetables.

 

Throwing out a number of suggestions, Parris encouraged the budding agri-preneurs not to be afraid of trying their hands at new crops, not traditionally grown in Barbados. He suggested that they could start with some of those presently being imported into the country.

 

Pointing out as well that the sugar cane industry is in decline, he suggested that young persons could experiment by growing a plant called stevia, which is produced as a sweetener that is some two to three hundred times as sweet as sugar and is not known to cause cancer as may be the case with some other sweeteners.

 

“It could be the basis for the drink and confectionery industries, leaving the traditional sugar as a speciality item and sugar cane for molasses and the rum industry” Parris said.

He expressed the hope that his comments and suggestions would serve to motivate the young participants to some of the possibilities that are out there. (RSM)