TODAY ACROSS BARBADOS hundreds of farmers, large and small, along with retailers from supermarkets to the traditional hawkers, will be offering a variety of fruits, vegetables and meat for sale.
The joy in all of this is that it will be for the most part healthy, locally produced items which will help both the economy and the well-being of the people of this island.
This issue of food production ties in well with positions outlined by a number of eminent Barbadians that something must be done to tackle the country’s high food import bill which in turn adds to the spiralling cost of living.
It also speaks of the need to ensure that what we eat is of the highest quality and that we recognize agriculture provides good jobs, saves foreign exchange on one hand, earns it on the other, and allows for a healthy lifestyle.
On Tuesday, former director general of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, Barbadian Dr Chelston Brathwaite, joined chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul, Independent Senator and agronomist Dr Frances Chandler, and politicians on both sides of the divide in appealing for national action and not talk so as to increase our food production.
This island’s food import bill stood at a staggering $654 million for 2011 and the likelihood of an increase in 2012 is unacceptable. We have been hearing about this upward trend in food imports for a number of years, but have failed to curtail the problem.
Given the need to create more entrepreneurs, to produce and eat foods of a higher quality, and to ensure we are not at the mercy of those controlling the international food supply chain, now seems a good time to ensure we are firmly for agriculture.
With our limited land space and the demand for its usage from the various sectors looking for the highest economic return, we must take new approaches to boosting food production. All the evidence is there to show that new technology can significantly increase yields without compromising on quality.
We must also find ways to increase backyard farming which has always been a significant contributor to the informal economy.
Government needs to ensure that not only are the incentives in place but that there are no bottlenecks in accessing them.
Government’s idle lands must also be put under the plough.These measures must also be supported by training for our young people interested in a career in agriculture and problems such as predial larceny must be firmly addressed.
With the focus on the services sector, an expanded public service, high-paying jobs in the financial and offshore sectors, as well as the traditional professions, we scorned agriculture.
But, as the late Carmeta Fraser trumpeted in the 1970s, “food comes first”. It is important to our very survival as a nation.