“I am a truly Caribbean person and my desire and aim was always to contribute to the Caribbean.”
These words spoken by Florita Kentish, subregional coordinator for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, sum up the essence of her life’s work.
Kittian-born, Antiguan-raised Kentish, who now makes Barbados her home, has held the post since 2009. For her this position allows for a continuation of her love for agriculture and is the perfect culmination of a career in that field that has spanned more than 30 years.
“I am what you call a person who believes in national service and now that I work for an international organisation I still give national service,” Kentish said proudly.
In terms of her work, she is a staunch advocate of agriculture and would love to see a resurgence of agriculture in the Caribbean again because of its importance to the region and its people.
“There have been so many reasons for cutting back of agriculture but I think in the minds of Caribbean people and I think perhaps because of our history, people believe that as far away as you can get from the soil makes you a more productive person, a more well-off person,” Kentish said. “You can see that perhaps with the older folks who stuck with it but chose other means for their children, not wanting their children to walk the same road.
“That is something that is quite a fallacy. There is so much to be gained from agriculture in terms of economics as well.”
On a personal and professional level, Kentish has certainly gained a great deal from following a career in agriculture.
Kentish, who can be considered a trailblazer in many ways, is one of the first women to hold the position of subregional coordinator with the FAO. With agriculture, one’s first thought usually gravitates to a man, but though she is soft-spoken, her knowledge and passion for her field shines through in everything she does.
“I remember early in my career as I went out and spoke to farmers and showed them the new technology in the field, they listened intently but then when it came to the field day, the practical aspect of it, one farmer came back and said he had to see if all that I had was a textbook knowledge or to see if I could really apply it,” Kentish recalled.
“It comes back to the fact that when you can fully demonstrate that it isn’t just textbook knowledge, you know what you’re talking about, that you will get people respecting you.”
Kentish developed her inclination to the soil back in the early 1970s when she was a student at the University of Guyana.
“In those days . . . everything was geared to having their [Guyanese] professionals being able to enter industry, whether it was pharmaceutical or the sugar or rice industry” Kentish said. “When I saw that I recognised that there was much more to the sciences and my interest began to be drawn to agriculture and more particularly pest management. So I set my goal on studying further but using that experience back in the Caribbean – which I’ve always done.”
That quest for greater knowledge took her to the United States, where she obtained another Bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Murray University in Kentucky and a Master’s degree in Entomology and Pest Management from the University of Florida.
“Pest management went hand in hand with studying agriculture,” said Kentish. “I knew you had a shortage of people in that particular field and I knew that having done biology and taxonomy I could very well assist in that area.”
While pursuing her studies, a little thing called life intervened and Kentish fell in love with and married the man of her dreams.
“By the time I had gotten to Florida for my post-graduate work, I had gotten married to a wonderful man from the region as well, also an agriculturalist, and both of us had the same sort of thoughts and visions,” Kentish said. “Our idea was to get the education and return and apply it.”
Kentish did do what she set out to do.
“I came back and trained a lot of people in my field as well,” she said.
Even though she was working and excelling in her field, Kentish wanted to further her studies by participating in a PhD programme in Florida.
“I was trying for a fellowship but one which would support the spouse and the children,” Kentish said. “There were very good fellowships at that time, but they then recognised that it was a woman who was going to be supporting a spouse and children [they thought it was a man] . . . . Well, I told my husband I was not prepared at that expense to proceed with the studies.”
While her husband was willing to be a single parent until she returned, Kentish was not prepared to separate.
“Not that I didn’t believe that my husband would look after the kids and everything . . . but they needed to have their mother around,” Kentish said. “At that time there were the first two little girls and I said no, I need to be there, to see them grow and instil certain training in them. I haven’t regretted that decision once. Those girls are now married, but they have both learnt to put their families first also. I think it’s one of the best legacies a parent, a mother can give her children.”
